Always Advancing
by Civilis
Summary: Yukari awakens to find herself in an alternate world, where the events of the series didn't happen. Still, she's like a tank, Always Advancing, and she will find her friends in this alternate reality, even if it means blasting through Sensha-Do like an Armor Piercing shell. Can the spirit of Oarai triumph without the school?
1. The Same, Only Different

On a hillside, two high school girls sat watching the movement on the dirty field below. "I count... Four Matilda IIs and one Churchill advancing," said the first. "Wedge formation... nice station keeping."

"St. Gloriana has always been good at that fancy formation driving, probably so they don't spill their tea," replied the other, excitedly. "Any sign of the others?"

"Not yet, but you kept saying you were most concerned about the infantry tanks. We're going to have a hard time penetrating their main armor, even with AP rounds. Especially the Churchill," the first girl said, with a theatrical shudder. "That one's a monster."

"It's not invincible. That's where tactics and skill come in. All right, enough spectating. Let's get this show on the road!" The girl stood up, brushed her blonde hair away from her eyes, and extended a hand to her companion to help her up.

"Thanks, Kay" said Akiyama Yukari. The pair clambered onto and into the Sherman hidden just over the ridge from their observation point. Yukari eased shut the loader's hatch behind her.

The commander of Saunders University High School Tankery Team was already on the radio as she dropped into the commander's cupola of her Sherman. "All right, everyone, move out. Remember to keep the engine noise and dust low." The engine of the Saunders M4 Sherman roared to life, followed shortly thereafter by nine more like it. With practiced ease, all ten tanks turned and began advancing away from their opposition, forming a column of olive drab armor. The command tank quickly passed the rest of the vehicles in the column and took position at the head of the line.

Kay opened up on the radio. "This is Shortstop to all Baseball elements. We've confirmed the location of the enemy Batters. The Runners are unaccounted for, so keep an eye out. Shortstop will advance to the Mound. The rest of you, signal when you are in position. Operation Line Drive begins now!" One by one, the trailing Sherman tanks peeled off the formation and headed for their positions.

A burst of static heralded another voice on the radio, this one sounding much more annoyed than Kay's friendly and energetic instructions. "Outfielder 3, read your map. You're on the right!"

Immediately, one of the Shermans changed course. The radio crackled to life again, "Uh, Outfielder 3, correcting, sorry, Arisa."

Kay ducked into the tank and then turned to Yukari. "This is officially your first engagement, Yukari. You ready for this?"

Yukari gave her commander a thumbs up. "I think I am." She adjusted her gloves, and made ready to grab a shell.

The blonde commander turned towards her gunner with a cocky grin. "Ok, we ready to spill someone's tea?"

* * *

The first 75mm shot from the Sherman landed short of the beige St. Gloriana Matilda, throwing up a cloud of dirt. Almost immediately, the British tanks began turning towards the source of the fire, while still maintaining their wedge formation. Before they could bring their turrets to bear to fire back, a second shot from the American tank slammed into the flank Matilda, unfortunately not doing more than leaving a scrape on the armor.

The lone M4 reversed and backed out of the hull down position it had taken overlooking the enemy formation and quickly turned and accelerated away moments before the first round of return fire impacted its position. From the cupola, Kay waved at the pursuing British tanks rounding the hill and bringing their guns to bear even as she triggered her radio to her crew. "Keep on an evasive course until we reach First Base," she instructed her driver. "While those aren't the heaviest guns, a direct hit would slow us down for the kill if it didn't finish us off." As if on cue, the first shell from the five pursuing British tanks landed nearby.

She switched her radio to the 'All Saunders' channel, and practically screamed into the microphone "All right, everyone, the fun starts now!" as another round from the pursuing St. Gloriana tanks whizzed past her head.

* * *

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part I: The Same, Only Different

by Civilis

* * *

Next: Part II: Situation Normal: All Fouled Up

Author's Notes: As I post this, the first chapter, the story is about 80% finished. There's a small gap at around chapter XX, and the end needs serious work.

This is a story about friendship, perseverance, and tanks. All characters are original to Girls und Panzer, and the author does not own this series.


	2. Situation Normal: All Fouled Up

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part II: Situation Normal: All Fouled Up

by Civilis

* * *

Akiyama Yukari was not normally a late sleeper. Still, every so often there was the need to absolutely make sure she woke up on time, which had become a much more frequent occurrence since joining the Ōarai Girl's Academy Sensha-do team. Between the late-night practice sessions, repair operations, away matches in odd parts of the country, and not-infrequent post-match parties, having an alarm clock had become a necessity, if not needed every day. Fortunately her parents had given her one when she started middle school, one which fitted her unusual taste.

It was this portable tank-shaped alarm clock, imitating the sound of the British OQF 17-pounder, that woke Yukari from her slumber. With practiced ease, she quickly folded the sheets on her bed, slipped out of her nightshirt, and into her school uniform shirt and skirt. It wasn't until she had halfway tied the western-style tie that her sleepy mind had caught up with her and sent up a warning signal... the Ōarai uniform didn't have that sort of tie.

Yukari hesitated, then stopped what she was doing completely. It was this stop which caused her to take note of something else odd... namely, that this wasn't her room at Ōarai. There were no posters, no uniform jackets, no models, no books, and none of the miscellaneous militaria she had collected over the years of being a tank fan. There was her familiar army-style backpack in the corner, along with a packed duffel bag she recognized as hers, as not many high school students would insist on genuine vintage surplus US Army gear. Other than her bags, a somehow familiar jacket in a gray color (and not German feldgrau or Panzer gray, but the lighter West Point gray), and her wallet, phone and some papers on the desk it looked empty. In fact, on reflection, it looked like a western-style hotel room.

She was interrupted in her confusion by a knock at the door, followed by a familiar voice, that of her mother, in the chiding tones she used when Yukari got too tank-happy and needed to be brought down to Earth. "Yukari, I heard your alarm. Hurry up and finished getting dressed. You're going to want to get something to eat before your first day at your new school. Your father and I will be down at breakfast."

It took Yukari enough time to respond to this statement that by the time she could exclaim "Wait, what did you say?" there was no answer as her mother had presumably gone off to indeed get something to eat.

She quickly hurried over to the desk and snatched up her phone, but her intention to call someone to find out what sort of bizarre prank was going on was thwarted by the fact that her phone no longer had any of her friends' numbers in it. In fact, aside from her parents, there were no saved numbers. And that wasn't all... the date was off. "April? It's October," Yukari puzzled, "isn't it?" April had been when she'd started her second year at Ōarai, and the date on her phone was about three days before that fateful Ōarai school assembly where the student council, or Turtle Team as they would eventually be known, had announced the return of Ōarai's Sensha-do team.

She then snatched up the papers under the phone, only to immediately drop most of them when she saw the writing on the first page. Beneath a letterhead with a very familiar blue, yellow, and red logo, it read:

'Congratulations, Akiyama Yukari, on being accepted into Saunders University High School as a transfer student. We look forward to seeing you...'

"What is going on?" she pondered aloud, setting down the papers, before grabbing the now clearly identifiable Saunders uniform coat and throwing it on, shoving the tie in one of the jacket's convenient pockets along with her wallet and phone, throwing on her shoes, and heading out to find her parents.

It didn't take long; the Western-style hotel had an attached restaurant, where her parents were seated near the door enjoying a western-style breakfast. Her father waved her over once he caught sight of her.

"Dad, Mom? What's going on? Where are we?" Yukari asked, with growing confusion and horror.

"Well," her father said, taking the tone of fathers anywhere when they have a smart answer to one of their kids questions, "We're splurging on a good breakfast for your first day, and we're about three blocks from the carrier docks in Nagasaki. You can look out the window and see your new school." He gestured towards the bay windows of the restaurant, out of which the massive bulk of the Saunders University High School Carrier School was visible looming over the buildings. Turning back to Yukari, her father gestured towards her throat and said "Do you still need help with the tie? I thought you got enough practice in yesterday."

"What do you mean, new school? I go to Ōarai," she replied, "Ōarai Girls Academy."

Before her father could reply, her mother, sensing that her daughter was upset, chimed in soothingly "It's natural to be stressed by changes, dear. I know the school closing was a bit of a shock to all of us. I know your father was annoyed at the suddenness of the decision... he's still trying to finish up the paperwork for moving the shop, but we'll pull it all together and join you on the ship when the paperwork is done. Now have something to eat, you have a long day ahead of you." She gestured to the seat with a place setting and menu.

"Is this a dream?" Yukari asked herself, then pinched herself. It hurt. She didn't find herself suddenly waking up.

"Yukari, you'll be fine," her mother continued, reassuringly. Akiyama Yoshiko had gotten used to her daughter's odd behavior, and had experience in gently guiding Yukari back towards a semblance of normality.

Her father joined in, placing his hand comfortably on her shoulder and guiding her towards the seat. "Yesterday you were happy to finally be going to a school with a Sensha-do program. You'll finally have a chance to command a tank, if you can get onto the team. That's been your dream, hasn't it?"

Yukari sat down heavily in the restaurant seat. If this was a joke, it was elaborate. If it wasn't, then what had the past six months been? If she repeated the story of Ōarai's Sensha-do team to herself, it sounded impossible. Could it have been a very vivid dream?

She was interrupted by a very real growl. Whether or not this was a dream, she could handle it better on a full stomach.

* * *

Once breakfast was finished, Yukari returned to her hotel room. She packed her nightshirt and alarm clock in her duffle bag, brushed her teeth in the hotel room's bathroom and packed her toiletries in her kit in her backpack. A quick check of her backpack turned up the same contents she always kept in it. There were a couple of Ōarai remnants, including a folded map and her previous year's class schedule, crumpled into a ball, but nothing that would have been added since she had started Sensha-do at Ōarai.

She turned to the Saunders paperwork. Most of it was the usual school paperwork: her class schedule, the student manual, and the school transfer forms which her father had signed and stamped. She pocketed the 'new student instructions', a double sided map with a high-level map of Saunders Carrier School on one side and the port of Nagasaki, Saunders's home port, on the other, and her Saunders student ID card, then placed the rest of the packet in her backpack.

Out in the hall, her parents were waiting. "You feeling better now?" her father asked, as he finished helping her with her uniform tie as promised.

Although she didn't know what to say, she put on a brave face for her parents and answered "I guess so."

Her mom hugged her. "You'll be fine. We'll be in touch; it shouldn't take too long to make arrangements for moving your father's shop. If something comes up we can always ship your things to your dorm."

Goodbyes exchanged, Yukari stepped out the door of the hotel and walked towards Saunders. Her 'new student instructions' said that new Saunders high school transfer students should go to Embarkation Building 1. Due to the size, most docks built for Carrier Schools had multiple buildings with pedestrian access routes, vehicular elevators and cargo cranes for getting their vast populations and the food and goods they consumed aboard. The closest building, marked with a large 1, was clearly visible over the surrounding mishmash of stores and restaurants frequented by Carrier School students when the ship was docked.

The sidewalk quickly became a sea of girls in Saunders gray jackets heading the same direction. Like Yukari, most of them carried some form of luggage with them.

"Hey, Akiyama!" called a vaguely familiar voice from the crowd. Yukari turned to see a student she vaguely remembered from her first year Ōarai, waving her hand.

"Ah... Kanzaki!" It took a second for Yukari to remember the girl's name. She had never been especially friendly with her rather mundane classmates, but also had never been on bad terms with any of them either. It took a few minutes as they walked along for Yukari to shift position in the flow to walk alongside her former classmate.

"Well, it's good to see a familiar face," said Kanzaki, as they continued towards the ship. "I got an email from Tachibana that she also got into Saunders, and I think Shiratori got accepted as well." Yukari vaguely remembered the names as friends of Kanzaki. "Koizumi got her paperwork in late, so she ended up at Pravda. She's going to freeze to death."

"Kanzaki, do you know why they closed Ōarai?" she asked, hoping the phrasing of the question would hide the fact that she didn't remember the event in question at all.

"I thought they explained it enough. The school simply was too expensive, so the Ministry of Education decided to close it," the girl replied.

"They couldn't have done something to save it?"

"Who? The student council? I heard they tried to find something, but what were they supposed to do? Throw a massive Idol concert to raise money?" Kanzaki shook her free hand dismissively. "They were a bunch of useless screwballs. Come on, the Ministry is paying us to go to better, more modern schools. "

The pair got out from behind the last of the buildings before the dock, and Yukari could see the whole embarkation building alongside the Carrier School. Parked in the lot were about fifty busses in white and blue Saunders colors, each of which had a Saunders student with a numbered sign at the front.

Kanzaki pulled out her new student instruction sheet. "According to this, you should be looking for a bus with your group number. I'm group number 23. Gah, it's like first year middle school all over again," she griped, "we're high schoolers now, we've been on a Carrier School before."

Yukari checked her own sheet. "It says group number 4."

"Well, see you around, I guess," said Kanzaki, as she waved and walked over to the cluster of busses.

Yukari quickly found Bus 4 towards the front of the pack. A smaller girl was ahead of her, confusedly showing a sheet of paper to the student with the sign. The older girl with the sign shrugged apologetically, "These busses are for new high school second and third year transfer students only. New freshmen were supposed to come through yesterday. They can help you over at the Embarkation Building, look for the sign that says help desk." She pointed in the direction of the building's main doors. The younger girl groaned, picked up her suitcase, and began the trudge across the parking lot in the indicated direction.

Sign girl checked Yukari's paperwork, then gestured onto the half-full bus. "Take a seat. We'll get you on board for the tour when everyone is here or in about a half-hour."

Looking around the bus and seeing no familiar faces, Yukari took a seat in the back. She had pulled out and was about to start reading the student manual when the girl in the seat in front of her turned around and asked, "Hey, are you a transfer from Ōarai?"

"Yeah," said Yukari, "why?"

"Ah, I transferred from Bellwall. Seems everyone else is a transfer from Ōarai. I'm Izumi." The girl stuck out her hand.

Yukari shook it. "Akiyama. Ōarai closed down suddenly, I guess, so we all had to go somewhere."

Izumi gestured to the girl next to her, who seemed to be sleeping. "This is Yamazaki. She's from Ōarai as well."

The girl in question slowly opened her eyes. "I was in Agricultural, section I, class 2C. Which section were you in?"

Yukari replied, "Regular education, section II, class 2B."

"Seems a shame to do your final year at a new school, right?" asked the girl, sympathetically.

"Final year?" It took Yukari a second to remember that while she remembered part of a second year, all the evidence pointed to it not having happened, so this was the start of her second year. "Ah... I misspoke. No, last year was class 1B. I'm a second year." She turned to the first girl and asked, "So, as we didn't have a choice, Izumi-san, why'd you transfer schools?"

The girl looked almost apologetic as she answered, "Ah, Bellwall doesn't have a Sensha-do program, well, not a real one, and my family moved to Nagasaki for work, and I used the opportunity to transfer schools here."

Yamazaki rolled away and closed her eyes, but still had enough attention to respond "Who cares about old-fashioned crap like that these days, anyway?"

Yukari raised her hand. "I do!"

Seeing a fellow enthusiast, Izumi opened up, "It's really the best chance I have for getting on to a decent team, even with the size here. St. Gloriana isn't taking many new students, and from what I hear, their team's even pickier about who they take, almost as bad as Kuromorimine itself. I could have gotten in to Pravda if my family had moved to Sapporo, but I got lucky and we moved to Nagasaki."

Remembering the cold winter day in Hokkaido for their match against Pravda, Yukari sympathized, "Pravda's too cold?"

"Too strict, really. The nice thing about Bellwall was that they were lax on discipline. Pravda's supposedly a nightmare about things like that," the girl responded.

"Well," Yukari smiled weakly, "perhaps we'll get on the team together!"

The girl looked unexpectedly sad. "I don't think I did that well on the exam."

"Exam? What exam?"

"Don't tell me you didn't take the online exam. The team is so popular, they have an online exam you're supposed to take before they'll even think about putting you on the team. You should have gotten a mention on the sheet about mandatory electives in your welcome packet. Well," she smiled weakly, "we can be study partners and try to make it in next year."

Before Yukari could respond, any further discussion was cut off by the bus's motor starting, the door closing, and the feedback as the girl with the sign picked up a microphone and announced "It looks like all of group 4 is here, so we'll be heading out. We'll give you the quick bus tour of your new school, then drop you off at your dorm."

She took the time as the bus rode the vehicle elevator up to Saunders to ponder her situation. At this point, a practical joke would have required so much work as to be impossible, so either the whole Ōarai Sensha-do team had been a dream, or this was a dream. That, or she was stuck in a bad science-fiction scenario like the alternate reality from that 'Melancholy of Haruka Suzumiya' or whatever show some of her otaku classmates had been raving about. At this point, her best option was, like a tank, to keep advancing ahead, and the best chance she had to find her friends was through the thing they had in common, tanks. Which meant she would have to find her way onto the Saunders team somehow. The problem was that she had no idea how a normal high school Sensha-do team functioned, as the reformation of Ōarai's team was anything other than normal. It made sense that the big teams would have more competition for spots.

With a thunk, the vehicle elevator stopped, and the door leading to the bridge to the School Carrier's deck opened. Shortly thereafter, the bus began moving, while the student tour guide began describing the ship around them. Unlike Ōarai, which had the feel of a sleepy town, Saunders felt like a floating city. Their guide made it a point of pride to point out the mall with McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises as options for food beyond the Sunkus convenience stores present on all Carrier Schools. Although she had been on the ship before, at least in a dream, Yukari hadn't done much looking around last time, so it was all new to her. However, the tour didn't include the part that most interested her, the top deck Sensha-do garage and assembly field.

Soon enough, the bus stopped outside a dorm block almost identical to those at Ōarai. Although Yukari had lived with her parents in their rented apartment at Ōarai, she'd been in Saori's and Miho's apartments enough times to know the way around. She quickly found her room, dropped her stuff off, and walked down to the familiar glow of the Sunkus to pick up dinner, then headed back to her room for the night.

* * *

Next: Part III: A New Beginning

Authors Note: Starts out a little boring, but necessary to spell out the changes to the world and fit Yukari into it. I tried to avoid OC's, but I needed some here to interact with Yukari. Like the classroom environment in the TV series, these will be irrelevant almost immediately.


	3. A New Beginning

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part III: A New Beginning

by Civilis

* * *

"Gah, why does it feel like I know this stuff already?" groaned Yukari as she packed her schoolwork into her overstuffed backpack at lunchtime the next day.

She was already establishing a reputation as an odd one, based on the strange looks she was getting from her new classmates for carrying the military bag around with her rather than keeping it in the assigned hall locker. Carrying the heavy backpack everywhere at Ōarai had turned out to be a good thing, as it had provided a decent starting measure of arm strength before she had become a tank loader, and she wasn't going to quit doing it now.

She shouldered the oversized pack and headed down to Saunders' massive school cafeteria/food court, and walked past the hamburger, fried chicken, taco and pasta bars. If Yukari had not been focused on her predicament, she might have been awed by Saunders attempts at being American, or at least fitting the Japanese stereotypes of what Americans were like.

She ended up at the smaller lunch counter hidden in the back for those that still wanted the traditional Japanese school lunch. It had the mercy of being comfort food, which is what she thought her stomach craved right now.

Getting her food, she found an empty table, sat down, and began to eat. The familiarity of the first bite, however, and the resulting flood of memories wiped out any comfort the food should have brought.

For years, Yukari had been a social outcast. She had one interest, tanks. She had spent many a lunch comfortably alone with a book. Eating by herself should have been normal.

And yet, those impossible memories kept reappearing. She remembered swapping World War II facts with Erwin of the history club, talking up war movies with the freshmen gaggle, or even just listening to the gamer girls describe their latest electronic game raid. She remembered having friends to eat lunch with, and she found herself missing it deeply.

Since she had woken up to find herself a Saunders student, she had been unable to come up with any rational explanation for why the previous months of her life, those of her second year at Ōarai, had been lost, or even any proof they had existed in the first place. Oddly, some part of her believed it didn't matter why. What had happened had happened. She would need to determine what to do next. Tanks always advanced.

In one sense, Saunders offered an opportunity. Her parents had been right, in one respect. Had Ōarai never formed a Sensha-do team, she would have loved the opportunity to get into a school with a real Sensha-do program. It was her chance to live her dream, to experience tanks for real. It was what she should have wanted.

And yet, her memories rebelled. She remembered fighting for Ōarai. She had not just experienced tanks, but had gotten an up close and personal experience competing against the best of the best.

More importantly, the team at Ōarai had become her first real friends. Her friends were what mattered. If her memories of Ōarai were real, she vowed to reconnect with those friends. If they were fake, she would make new friends. Like a tank, Yukari would always advance.

Her meditations, however, were drowned out by a different familiar sound, the tone of the ship's electronic PA system signaling an announcement. "Would the following students please report to Assembly Room C-3 in Block 8S next period," said the voice over the speaker, as she began to read off a list of names. Yukari returned to paying attention to her food, only to be brought back to attention as the speaker finished up, "...Class 2-D, Akiyama Yukari. That is all."

The nearby digital message board confirmed that the message was real, as it included a scrolling list of forty names and their associated class numbers, with hers at the end. Oddly, hers was the only one with a 2 in the class, the others having a 1 for first-year high school students. She quickly finished her fish, wolfed down the rest of her rice, and grabbed her bag to find out what she was needed for.

Fortunately, there were standardized design elements to the blocks that made up the carrier schools below the decks. She made her way to Block 8 on the starboard side and down to Assembly Room C-3.

The fifty or so chairs in the middle of the room took up only a small portion of the room's floor space. The far, front wall was dominated by an elevated stage with a podium and a massive digital whiteboard. The back of the room had a folding table piled with sodas near the door. Yukari grabbed one, then sat down on one of the chairs in the back to wait while the rest of the named students arrived.

It didn't take long. Most of the girls arrived in small groups talking among themselves. Interestingly, Yukari and her backpack didn't draw nearly as many stares as they normally did.

The purpose of the mysterious summons was revealed by a surprising, booming voice from the direction of the door. "Hi everybody!" came the English words, spoken by a very familiar voice. Kay, the blonde, boisterous commander of Saunders University High School's Sensha-Do Team, barged into the room.

Yukari grinned as she remembered Kay's direct and sometimes overwhelming presence. The freshmen, who knew who she was only by reputation, if at all, couldn't even manage to contain their astonishment as they turned and gaped or tripped over themselves trying to turn to follow this new figure as she strode across the room towards the table of refreshments. At least one student was drenched by a hastily dropped soda. Another girl ran up to the commander just to shake her hand.

Almost unnoticed in the commotion, one of her assistant commanders, the freckled, pigtailed, petite Arisa, followed the commander. Unlike Kay's wide grin, Arisa had her normal small, smug, almost bratty smile. While Kay helped herself to a soda and smiled for the admiring freshmen, Arisa walked up to the podium on the stage and began playing with the controls. The digital whiteboard behind her turned on, and shortly displayed a screensaver with 'Saunders Tankery' in English, overlaid on top of the more proper 'Saunders University High School Sensha-Do Team' in Japanese.

Some of the freshmen, realizing what this meant, began to cheer.

Kay walked up to the front and sat on the stage, letting her hand with her soda dangle off the edge. "Don't get too excited yet!" she continued in Japanese, "As you know, our Tankery Team is one of the best in the country. You all did very well on the exams, but that's only the first part. We're here to welcome you, the new members of Training Company B."

This caused some more cheering, although some of those that had been overly enthusiastic earlier now looked a little disappointed, realizing there was more work to come.

Kay waited for the room to calm down, then continued, "Up there on the podium is one of my Executive Officers, Arisa. She's in charge of training you all. In the coming weeks, we're going to give you some practical, hands-on experience with the M4 Sherman tank, the pride of Saunders Tankery. First, however, I'd like you all to introduce yourselves, tell me what role you're most interested in, and let me know what your favorite tank is."

One by one, the freshmen introduced themselves. Most of them expressed interest in being the tank commander or gunner, though there were a few interested in the driver position. Most of the girls said they considered the Sherman their favorite tank, although it was clear to Yukari that it was the answer they expected the Saunders vets to hear. The first student that said the Panther was their favorite received gasps of disbelief from some of the other freshmen.

Kay, however, smiled and gave her a friendly thumbs up. "That's fine, just as long as you're willing to kill them!" The girl nodded, as Kay continued, "We want you on our team, because Tankery is fun. Don't get me wrong, there's some work to it, but in the end, if you try hard, you all can experience that fun." She then gestured to the next freshman to continue the introductions.

Almost finally, it came to Yukari's turn. She stood up and said "I'm Akiyama Yukari, and I want to be a loader. My favorite tank is the Polish twin-turret 7TP."

Kay seemed to recognize her name. "Akiyama? You're a second year transfer student, right? From the school that closed… Ōarai, was it?" she asked. When Yukari nodded, Kay continued, "Why the 7TP?"

Yukari grinned, finally, at the chance to talk tanks with someone she knew was an expert. "Can you imagine fighting against the first panzers at the opening battles of the German blitzkrieg? I mean, it's almost useless to take a machinegun tank into Sensha-do, but it's just a fun tank."

Seeing no sign from Kay that she should stop, Yukari continued preaching her love of armored fighting vehicles, "There are a lot of other fun tanks out there. The BT-42 looks crazy fun to drive with the Christie suspension. For guns, while it's not as powerful as the good old 88, the British 17 pounder is so cool. And, as a loader, the Germans knew what they were doing with the Panzer IV, with properly positioned ammo and a clean, quick mechanism, just get a good gunner and you are in business. Once you've done it enough, it's like clockwork," she said, as she pantomimed her loading routine from Ōarai's Panzer IV.

Seeing the glassy eyes on most of the freshmen, Yukari bowed to the room, "Sorry, when talking tanks I just get on a roll..." She quickly sat down.

The last couple of freshmen finished their introductions. Kay stood up and gestured to Arisa, who fiddled with the controls on the podium. The screensaver was replaced with a picture of the M4 Sherman tank.

"Tomorrow, we will start training you on this," Arisa pointed at the screen, "the American made M4A1 Sherman tank." She proceeded to give a brief lecture on the layout, specifications, and history of the Sherman.

While Yukari was familiar with the history of the M4, and had memories of facing against it in Sensha-do, there was still parts of Arisa's lecture that were new. The biggest new part was that Saunders Shermans usually operated with a crew of four, leaving the co-driver seat vacant. It wasn't unknown for Sensha-do crews to not fill all the crew positions the tank would have historically had, and due to a shortage of girls, Ōarai had three tanks that operated with smaller crews than historically normal, but it was still new to her that this was standard practice. On the other hand, the Ōarai Panzer IV, despite the shortage of crew, had left Saori in the co-driver space because the position was also allocated the radios, while with Saunders's Shermans, the Commander had the radios, leaving the co-driver with little to do.

Another thing Yukari learned was the extent of the modifications needed to make a tank Sensha-do legal. While she had practical experience, the differences had never been systematically explained. In addition to the extra carbon-fiber layers to prevent penetration and spalling, there were a host of other hidden differences. On the Sherman, for example, the modern Sensha-do legal engines had almost eliminated the risk of fire for which early historical Shermans were known.

When the lecture was finished, Kay concluded, "Tomorrow, report to the practice field at 0700. Wear your gym clothes, and prepare for a workout. Welcome to Saunders Tankery!"

With that, Arisa shut down the projector, and the pair left the room.

* * *

The next morning, Yukari was up well before dawn. She ate a quick but filling breakfast from the Sunkus as she headed to the practice field.

If she was going to make friends at Saunders, Sensha-do was the easiest place for her to do it. She knew tanks, and presumably anyone that made it onto Saunders team knew them as well, so there was something in common to begin a friendship with.

The practice field certainly looked familiar; like the dorms, the surface garages were built to standard specifications. It was much like a dojo; while the various school carriers may have adopted national motifs, at the root was a unified Sensha-do tradition. Since Sensha-do had been based on European military traditions, the garages had a European look, much like how the traditional gakuan boys' school uniform had evolved from European educational traditions imported to Japan. The style had since become associated with the distinctly Japanese Sensha-do from the start, and had carried on as Sensha-do had evolved into Tankery in the Americas and Panzerkraft in Europe.

Saunders, although Japanese, had its roots in an American International school for children of American servicemen stationed in Japan, and so often informally used the Tankery name.

Parked in front of the garage in a neat line were ten olive drab M4A1 Sherman tanks. In addition to their usual Saunders markings, each had a blue horizontal stripe painted on the turret. Although in an odd color, to Yukari they looked like the recognition stripes used by American tanks early in World War II.

Yukari did a quick inspection of the exterior of the nearest tank, even though it looked to be in good condition. The hull was freshly painted, the periscopes polished, and all the lights appeared clean. All of the tools normally used to fix tracks were clean and neatly hooked in their places. The tracks looked to be well maintained and in good condition.

"Find anything interesting?" said a voice from right behind her as she knelt to examine the tracks. Startled, as she spun around, she just missed banging her head on the track guard.

Arisa grinned in a not entirely friendly manner. "You're here early. What's going on?" the pigtailed girl asked, inquisitively.

Yukari, having seen too many military movies, decided to humor the girl who was now, technically, her superior. She came to attention, and like a fresh recruit in a move, she barked out "Sorry, ma'am! I was just eager to get started, ma'am"

It was worth it for the groan and facepalm from Arisa. "Just… go and wait over by the building." She pointed at the corner of the garage. A couple of other trainees that had arrived while Yukari was doing her inspection waved at her from the indicated spot.

Soon enough, the trainees had all arrived, as well as almost a dozen Saunders veterans. A few minutes after 0700, Arisa whistled for attention. "All right, everyone, listen up. We're going to now give you some direct instruction from some of our current team members, followed by some hands on practice. We will be rotating each of you through all the various positions. Yes, that means you all have to take a turn at loader," she waited for the groaning to die down before continuing, "You can't shoot the enemy if you don't have a shell loaded. But first, safety. You will each get a jacket, boots, gloves and ear plugs to filter excess noise. It also can rattle around in there, so you might want a helmet."

Once everyone had acquired their protective gear, they were divided up among the ten tanks, and each tank was assigned a veteran to walk them through the positions.

Yukari, having experience with loading, albeit in what was possibly a very vivid dream and on a different model of tank, at least knew what questions to ask the trainer during the loader instruction. She quickly learned how Saunders crews liked to divide up the different ammunition types in the turret's storage racks, the best way to quickly load a shell and close the breech on the American gun, and the recommended ways to communicate with the gunner in both verbal and hand signals.

After the rest of the crew had finished with being briefed on the roles, the veteran took the vacant co-driver's seat, and directed the driver to drive over to the firing range. Once there, the commander was instructed to call targets on the range, the gunner to shoot the indicated target, and the loader to load after each shot. After the set, the crew swapped positions, and repeated the drill starting with the driver moving the tank to a different position, and continued until everyone had a chance at each role.

Once the last of the cannon fire had died away from the last repetition of the drill, Yukari climbed out of the tank, then helped the rest of the crew down. Around her, she could see the other crews doing the same thing. Most of the freshmen looked exhausted, as much by all the mental stress behind learning the skills as the physical effort.

Fortunately, someone was already ahead of the problem. "Over here!" shouted Kay, gesturing towards a nearby jeep. The back was piled high with bulging McDonalds bags, KFC buckets, and Sunkus plastic bags with bottled water and sodas. Lunch was quickly distributed, and everyone quickly started chugging drinks and scarfing down the welcome food.

Yukari waited until most of the crowd had taken their food, then took one of the remaining burgers and a bottle of water, then clambered back onto the tank to sit and eat.

She had barely sat down when a hand placed a full bucket of fried chicken next to her, followed by a bottle of soda. Shortly thereafter, Kay herself clambered over the turret to sit next to her, followed by a scowling Arisa. "Mind if we join you?" the blonde asked after sitting down, and began to eat without caring for Yukari's response.

"If I said yes?" asked Yukari, though her tone of voice was friendly.

Kay ignored the question to concentrate on her chicken. Yukari noticed with some amusement that it looked like Arisa was supposed to be sharing the chicken, but was having trouble getting one piece for every two that her larger blonde commander wolfed down.

Eventually, Kay paused to breathe or swallow, and turned to Yukari. "Sorry to keep picking on you, but you interest me. Your score on the qualifying exam was pretty high. And from what I've heard, you know your stuff." Arisa took Kay's distraction as an opportunity to grab the bucket with the last few pieces of chicken and move it away.

"Well, ever since I was a kid, I've been fascinated with tanks. I guess it's the way some kids get with cars or construction equipment," Yukari smiled, recalling her parents' patience. She patted the tank almost affectionately, "It's almost like one of those action heroes, with the power to beat the bad guy and the protection to keep you safe. So whenever other kids were big on superheroes or giant robots, I wanted to fight in a tank. I was so obsessed I didn't have any friends besides my books. I guess I'm odd, but that's me."

"You know," piped up Arisa, "when the giant robot or the kaiju fights a tank, the tank always loses. Like that stupid bear."

"Hey!" Yukari turned on Arisa, "Some of my friends like Boko, so don't badmouth the bear in front of me."

"Were you finally able to make friends at Ōarai?" Kay asked, sitting up to get between the other two girls to diffuse the sudden tension. When Yukari nodded, Kay continued, "How did a massive tank fan end up at Ōarai?"

"My parents are hairdressers. They run, or ran until Ōarai closed, a small barber shop. When I was looking to start school, the only place they could afford to move the shop was Ōarai, which got me a discount on the tuition," Yukari explained. At the time, she had pouted about not getting to go a school with Sensha-do, although in the end it had turned out very well, all things considered. "When Ōarai closed, I guess I had to go somewhere," she said, hiding the fact that she didn't know why she ended up at Saunders. "It could have been worse, I could have ended up at Pravda."

"Did you come here for the Tankery or the warmth?" said Kay as she shivered theatrically.

"Pravda's tanks are pretty good, but it seems that Sensh… Tankery here is more fun," Yukari replied.

"You think their T-34s are better than our Shermans?" asked Arisa confrontationally.

Kay leaned back a bit to let the two face off and lazily drank her soda as she watched the two debate the merits of which tank was better. She recognized the debate as the routine head-butting of two tank nerds with different opinions, which was a lot safer of an argument to let go than Arisa brattily calling out Yukari on her friends.

Arisa continued on, "While on paper the T-34 may be comparable, you'll find in the field that the better fire control, better vision and bigger turret of our tanks gives us an edge. We're on target faster, and reload faster."

"Yeah, but the Sherman is way too tall and turns like a truck. The T-34 has smaller turret and lower profile, which means it's a smaller target. Its wider tracks give better handling, especially off road," Yukari countered. "Besides, I think an IS-2 likely outguns anything in our arsenal," remembering that she was now, at least tentatively, a Saunders team member. "That 122mm cannon is more than capable of defeating a Tiger's armor, meaning our Shermans don't have much of a chance, and the heavy armor means you need a very good hit to take one out."

Arisa looked to be trying to come up with a reply, but was interrupted by Kay checking her watch, and in the process dumping the last of her soda on Arisa's lap. "Well, it looks like it's time for the afternoon fun!" the blonde said.

Arisa madly scrambled to avoid as much of the wayward soda as she could, but her shorts and legs were still soaked. "I'm going to clean up and get my toys for the afternoon," she sighed, before standing up, jumping down off the tank, and beating a less than dignified retreat to the garage.

Kay, meanwhile, had climbed on top of the turret and was waving for everyone's attention. Once the assembled tankers had gathered, she produced a piece of paper from her jacket pocket. "Now that you've had a chance to learn how to operate the tank, we're going to start you on real Tankery with a mock battle," she called out. There was a cheer from most of the crowd, before she waved them to silence and continued. "I'm going to divide you up in groups of four, and assign you to a tank. Once you're grouped up, pick one person for each position. Ok, tank Blue One is…" and started listing names.

Yukari was assigned to tank Blue Five with three other girls, Chihara, Akane, and Hikari. A few moments of negotiation had them decide on Akane as commander, Chihara as gunner, Hikari as driver and Yukari as loader.

Several of the tank crews had arguments as to who would crew which position, which were finally resolved by Kay, yelling "these positions are just for today's training. If you can't decide, just play rock-paper-scissors or something."

Once all crews had been chosen, each crew was assigned a veteran Saunders tanker as an advisor to accompany them in the co-driver seat. Blue Five was assigned an upperclassman named Katie as their veteran advisor.

Finally, Kay once more got the unit's attention. "As you all hopefully know, there are two different types of Tankery matches, Annihilation, where the win condition is to knock out all the enemy tanks, and Flag, where the win condition is to knock out the enemy tank marked with a flag. To keep it easy for you, as this isn't a real match, we'll be using a combination. To win, you have to knock out the enemy flag tank, while you don't lose until all your tanks are knocked out."

"So, who's our opponent?" one of the girls in the crowd asked.

"Glad you asked!" said Kay, as she gestured to the nearby garages. On cue, five additional Sherman tanks, each marked with a red stripe on the turret, drove out.

Yukari blinked in recognition at the fifth tank in the new group, which had both a smugly grinning Arisa leaning out the commander's cupola and a red pennant tied to the radio antenna. "Is that flag tank a M4A1(76)W?" she asked, spotting the larger turret.

Kay herself looked confused for a second before recovering. "Nice catch! The flag tank is indeed a Sherman with a 76mm cannon! However, you outnumber the red team 2 to 1, and all you need to do is take out that one Sherman."

"What do we get if we win?" called a voice from the crowd.

Arisa answered this time. "If you win, we'll think of something. If you lose, on the other hand…" she paused and her smug smile grew insufferably wide, before she suddenly exclaimed "Penalty!"

"This is a training exercise, so we won't be too hard. The important thing is to practice and have fun," said Kay, trying to be a bit more reasonable. "Your tank commanders will have a map with your starting location and the starting location of the red team. Once there, come up with a plan, then, when you are ready, radio in and we'll start. I'll be watching from the observation tower." Kay pointed at the nearby steel-framed tower, another common Sensha-do fixture, which was tall enough to see most of the surrounding area. Yukari could see another Saunders tanker with boyishly short gray hair already watching from the tower, most likely Naomi, the other Executive Officer of the team, with her ace gunners' eyesight.

Kay turned back to the unit. "All right, Blue Team! Mount up and move out!"

* * *

Next: Part IV: First to Fight

Author's Note: Part of this has been me pondering how Sensha-Do works at a normal school. Saunders has a long-running Tankery program, so they almost certainly have a program for bringing new team members in to the team in an organized fashion. I'm trying to stick as closely as possible to what we see in the series, even if I do lampshade some of the obvious strangeness. Like safety equipment... do we ever see anyone other than generic Saunders crews and Katyusha with a helmet?


	4. First to Fight

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part IV: First to Fight

by Civilis

* * *

Moments before hitting her sixth tree, Hikari, the driver of Saunders Training Company B tank Blue Five, said "All right, I think I'm finally getting the hang of this."

"Well, at least you didn't accidentally shoot at one of our other tanks, like the gunner on Blue Two," said Chihara, Blue Five's gunner, recovering from the sudden stop.

Blue Five's commander, Akane, rubbed her helmet where she'd been knocked into the tank's cupola by the sudden stop. "Blue Eight keeps asking us if we're in position yet. What should I tell her?

Hikari, frustrated by the difficulty in learning to drive a tank, yelled back "It's her stupid fault we're in the woods. I can hardly see where I'm going through this periscope."

Despite the rather slow advance of the tank, Akiyama Yukari smiled from the loaders position. "Why don't I get out and help guide you?" she said, as she pushed open the loaders hatch. Shortly thereafter she was on the ground, guiding the tank around the large tree that had blocked its fender.

Their trainer, Katie, or Kaede as she was willing to be called by those having difficulty with her American nom-de-guerre, watched approvingly from the tank's co-drivers hatch as the M4A1 Sherman started slowly easing forward past the obstacle.

* * *

The training match between Saunders Training Company B (the Blue team of ten M4A1 Sherman tanks) and an enemy platoon of Saunders veterans (the Red team of 4 M4A1 and 1 M4A1(76)W Sherman tanks, with the heavier tank as flag tank) had not gotten off to an auspicious start for the Blue team. It had taken a bit for all ten tanks to make it to the start point for the match, as the trainee tank drivers experienced their first time driving over uneven ground. Once there, all crews had to listen to a lecture from one of the trainers on cannon safety, due to an accidental misfire from Blue Two on the march to the start point.

The battlefield itself was part of Saunders training grounds. To Yukari, it was easy terrain, however to the freshmen tankers facing their first match, it must have seemed intimidating. The battlefield was divided into two halves by a road on a slight embankment. The red half had a wooded hill at the far end, while the near end was a largely open grassy field, except for a couple of strategically placed clumps of trees. The blue half was itself almost divided in half. The left quarter was wooded almost up to the road, while the right quarter was largely open. In the middle, adjoining the road, was another hill, itself half wooded.

Once the safety lecture had finished, the commander of Blue Eight had insisted on taking charge. Her plan was simple. Blue One through Four would head right and engage the enemy from the road embankment. Once the Red Team was engaged, Blue Eight through Ten would emerge from the wooded area on the hill and finish them off from high ground. Meanwhile, Blue Five through Seven would head left through the woods and hold off any encirclement attempts. It was a very obvious plan, and one that would give the hill group the easiest job, but most of the tank commanders seemed to be willing to go along rather than argue.

From some whispers from some of the other trainee crews, the consensus seemed to be that winning against the veterans was highly unlikely, and the idea would be for individual trainee crews to show what they could do even if the team lost.

Yukari admitted that, while she would prefer to play to win, the scenario was likely intended as a teaching tool and that this assessment made sense. Still, there was something odd about it. Five regular Shermans crewed by Saunders veterans should be enough to beat the trainees, even outnumbered two to one, but Arisa had further stacked the deck by bringing her heavier, upgunned model.

With the plan accepted, the crews broke up, and Blue Eight's commander radioed in "Blue Team ready."

"All right, everyone!" came the voice of Kay over the team radio channel, "Even though this is a practice match, we do things properly. Proper Tankery matches begin and end with a bow!"

The crew of Blue Five, even the trainer, all bowed as well as they could in the general direction of the red team.

"Okay, Match Start!" came the command, followed by, in Kay's accented English, "Tanks, Advance!" The tanks of Blue Team began to advance in the general direction of their objectives.

* * *

It was this advance through the woods that had caused Hikari to keep hitting trees. They had quickly lost sight of Blue Six and Seven, the drivers of which had adapted to the woods more quickly, if not entirely perfectly.

After Yukari guided the tank past the tree, she quickly remounted the tank and dropped back in the loader hatch.

"Blue One through Four just radioed in that they were on the embankment and don't see any red tanks. Blue Six and Seven said they were almost in position," relayed Akane to the crew. She keyed her radio on the Blue frequency, "This is Blue Five. We're still having trouble with the woods."

"Ok, this time I'm getting the hang of it," said Hikari. Fortunately, this did not cause her to immediately hit another tree.

Yukari stood up in her hatch and tried to get a look at the trees in front of them. There was no sign of either of the other Blue tanks that had proceeded them, not even any track marks or damaged trees.

The trees, at least, seemed to be thinning out, and the increased sunlight on the canopy ahead suggested that they were almost at the road, even if the other tanks were not visible.

From below, Akane relayed "Blue Eight has told the right flank to cross the road to try to lure out the Red team."

Less than a minute later, Yukari heard the distinct but faint sound of Sherman cannon fire from the right, followed shortly thereafter by Akane's narration. "Blue Two reports they are under fire from one red tank! Blue eight has ordered the hill tanks to advance and engage! Tanks in the woods are supposed to hold position and watch the flanks."

"Oh, good," said Hikari, as she stopped the tank.

"Uh, I think we're supposed to still close up with the others," said Akane, then with more urgency, "Blue three was hit and knocked out!"

Yukari kept scanning the area ahead of the tank, as Hikari cautiously advanced. The trees were definitely thinning out, and Yukari finally caught sight of one Sherman barely visible in the woods ahead. The sound of tank fire, though still faint, became more frequent as the narration from below continued.

"Blue Nine reports two more red tanks emerging from the clump of trees to their front! Blue Ten is hit!" continued Akane. "Four is asking for orders, and Eight is complaining she's shooting and can't talk now. Six has said she's going to start advancing, and Seven just copied."

Yukari watched the Sherman ahead of them. It was difficult to make out through the trees, but it didn't seem to be going anywhere. The commander was leaning out of her hatch, on the radio, watching through binoculars towards the road. Then, cued by something, the commander dropped the binoculars and dropped into the hatch and the tank surged forwards towards the road. As it pushed out of the trees, Yukari caught a glimpse of red from the turret side.

She yelled down to the girls in the turret, "Enemy tank ahead!"

Akane and Chihara both jumped in surprise. Chihara immediately got onto the gunner's sight and tried to find the enemy. "I don't see it. All I see are trees. Oh, there's the road. We're almost there, Hikari!"

Akane, meanwhile, immediately joined Yukari in leaning out of the cupola to look for the enemy.

With the trees almost gone, Yukari could see the red tank to their right, in the process of popping up on the road embankment behind Blue Six and Seven, which were looking off towards the hill and the distant tank battle. She pointed it out to Akane.

Akane quickly grabbed the microphone and screamed "Six and Seven! Enemy tank behind you!"

At the same time, Yukari dropped into the turret and relayed the position to Chihara, "Red tank, One O'clock!" as the gunner tried bringing the gun to bear on the target. Yukari grabbed another shell and prepared to reload.

The tank rocked as the cannon fired, the casing ejected into the turret. Akane could barely be heard screaming "Miss! Reload!" as the sound of another tank's cannon firing reverberated through the turret.

"They missed!" Akane shouted from above.

Even before the casing had come to rest on the turret floor, Yukari slammed the next shell home, and tapped Chihara on the shoulder. Blue Five's cannon roared again. "Miss!" came the call.

Two additional cannon shots from outside were heard in quick succession as Yukari slammed another shell into the breech.

"Red tank destroyed!" came Akane's call, before Chihara could fire again.

"Six got them, but Seven was hit too," said Akane, from above. "Let's reverse into the woods."

Hikari obligingly backed into the woods. The tank was well into the welcome concealment of the trees by the time it hit a tree and came to a stop. Yukari poked her head out of the hatch to see Blue Six backing up next to them, the commander out of the hatch and looking scared.

Akane was listening on the radio as she waved at the commander of Blue Six. "Eight has ordered a retreat, and wants us to regroup behind the hill. I don't want to listen to her, her plan walked all three groups into an ambush. Eight, Four, and One are all that are left of the other two groups. They may have gotten one of the other red tanks, they're not sure. No sign of the flag tank, just the four regular ones. What do you all think?"

To Yukari, something didn't add up. Red team had perfectly anticipated the trainee's moves, down to the timing. While the Blue strategy was obvious, it should be a lot harder to anticipate the timing of a bunch of trainees. Red team was too perfect, unless…

Yukari remembered Ōarai's match against Saunders, and how Arisa had used radio interception to set up ambushes against Ōarai. She had mounted the extra radios in a late model upgunned Sherman, like she was using now. It was overkill to use a trick like that against a bunch of trainees, but if she was planning to use it in a match, she would have to test it. And since she was going to win anyways, there was no reason to feel guilty about it.

There was one way to tell. The trick had relied on a balloon as a radio receiver, which was against the spirit, but technically not the letter, of the rules. Was there a balloon?

Barely visible through the thinning tree canopy, the offending radio intercept balloon floated over the hill at the back of the red side of the field. Nobody had yet remarked on it, but unlike real military tank crews, Sensha-do crews only had to look for enemy tanks, and filtered out stuff in the sky.

Yukari turned to Akane, "I think I know where Arisa is. If you're up for a little trick, I think we can get to her. Taking her out is another problem."

Akane nodded agreement, then picked up her radio to call to the team, but Yukari motioned her to stop.

"If you want a shot at winning this, follow us and maintain radio silence," Yukari yelled to the other operational tank, then dropped into the turret, Akane dropping in next to her.

"I hate to deceive One and Four this way, but we're going to need to lie to them. Get on the radio, tell them we're on our way to help," Yukari told Akane, who quickly sent the message.

"Hikari, head forward, across the road and along the left edge of the clearing until we're almost at the hill, then up the hill," she told the driver. From the co-driver's seat, Katie watched, confused as to what the crew was up to.

Blue Five managed to disengage from the tree it had backed into and made its way out of the woods without hitting another tree, Blue Six following behind. As they crossed the road, Yukari could see one of the red tanks climbing the hill in the distance behind them, but its crew didn't see the two blue tanks before they reached the cover of one of the small groups of trees on the red side of the field and were out of sight.

Akane listened to the radio, relaying the news, "One and Four are wondering where we are. I've heard nothing from Eight."

They reached the red hill, and quickly started up it. The impressions from a pair of tracks marked a usable trail up the hillside, and the two Blue Shermans used it to ascend the hill quickly.

Yukari dropped into the hatch and made a quick decision, telling Akane, "This may give us away, but tell One and Four to watch the hill, we think at least one Red tank is climbing it." Akane quickly relayed the message.

The tank, following the trail, rounded a bend. Just as Yukari popped back out of the hatch, the tank stopped abruptly. Blue Six managed to turn aside before collision, and stopped alongside.

Once Yukari recovered, she saw the cause of the stop, Arisa's Sherman parked on the trail, with the girl herself out of the hatch on the radio, her mouth was frozen open in mid-sentence at the unexpected appearance of two Blue tanks.

Both Yukari and Arisa recovered enough to drop into their turrets just before Blue Five fired down the trail, missing wildly.

Nearby, Blue Six joined in the fire, also missing its shot. Yukari grabbed another shell, and reloaded, then signaled the gunner. Chisame fired again.

Akane started to say something, but was drowned out by a massive impact on their own tank, followed by the tank's systems shutting down. Once her ears stopped ringing, Yukari realized that Arisa had just killed Blue Five. Another cannon shot from Blue Six echoed down the trail.

Yukari, seeing that the rest of the crew was shaken but okay, climbed up and stuck her head out of the loader's hatch. Arisa's tank was scorched from a glancing blow, but not out. Blue Six's commander was in the cupola of her tank, screaming down at her crew in a state of panic.

Blue Six would need to make the next shot count. Yukari called out to her, "It takes her much longer to reload! Take your time and make the shot count!" The girl nodded frantically, and passed the advice on.

Crucial seconds passed before the blast of another shot rang out. It would be the last of the battle, as Blue Six's gunned scored a lethal hit on the red Sherman before Arisa's loader could finish loading. The little white flag popped out from the now-disabled red tank, and Arisa climbed out nearby to shout curses into the forest.

"Red flag tank eliminated. Blue team wins!" said Kay over the radio, as Blue Six's commander started cheering, and Yukari collapsed back into her tank.

* * *

Yukari sat down against the tree as the motorized winch began pulling Blue Five onto the recovery vehicle for transport back to the garage. The punishment for the crews of the knocked out tanks had been to assist in the recovery process, which itself was valuable experience for the trainees. The still functional Blue Six, as well as Blue One, Blue Eight and three of the Red tanks, had the luxury of driving back to the garage under their own power.

She glanced over at the other tank on the trail. Arisa had not completely shirked responsibility for her defeat, as she was helping her crew connect the cables to her tank to hoist it onto its recovery vehicle once Blue Five had been cleared out.

Chisame walked over and sat next to Yukari, the other two freshmen trailing behind her. "Thanks for all your work loading. I'm sorry I couldn't score a clean hit, if I had we'd be the heroes," the gunner said.

"I'm sure you did alright for your first engagement, especially since Blue team still won. It's a team sport, and the team wins as a whole. Also, even with experienced gunners, most shots don't hit and knock out the enemy," Yukari reassured the freshman, "You'll get better with practice."

"You were absolutely right. How did you know she was on the hill?" Akane asked Yukari.

"I guessed, actually," Yukari admitted. "I figured she'd want to be up high to work the radio intercept."

The commander stared in disbelief. "Is that legal in a match? How did you know that's what she was doing?"

How much could she explain? "This is a non-official practice match, so the legality isn't an issue. What convinced me she was doing something was that Red team's ambushes were too conveniently timed. Either one of the club observers was telling them what we were doing from the tower, or they were listening to the radio. Kay wouldn't condone cheating, even in a training match, so the tower was out. Then I saw the radio balloon." Yukari pointed up at the balloon, just visible through the canopy.

"All right, you guys" called Katie from the recovery truck. "We're ready to head back. Since it's getting late, I've been told to tell you to go ahead and clean up and head out to dinner. We'll do the post-match review tomorrow afternoon."

The four piled into the truck and headed back to the garage.

* * *

From the tower, two figures watched the last of the trainees head out for dinner.

Naomi, Saunders ace gunner and team Executive Officer, watched the four split up and go their separate ways. "How soon until Arisa gets back?"

Kay finished her mouth full of popcorn and leaned back against the railing. "Apparently, she got the recovery truck stuck trying to get her out. At least, that's what I could make out of her ranting."

"That girl needs to learn how to be calm under pressure," replied Naomi, before snapping her gum. "Though I can't blame her too much. What kind of commander loses to a trainee team? Especially considering she was using one of her dirty tricks."

"This isn't the first time a trainee team has won their first match. Apparently, the commander we had just before I came to Saunders, Meg, managed to pull it off as well when she was a trainee," explained Kay, remembering the stories she heard from the upperclassmen when she started. "Besides, we haven't confirmed one of Arisa's tricks was involved. I'll call Arisa away on a pretext, and you find out what happened from her crew. On to our real purpose, what do you think about the new trainees?"

"Blue Eight's commander is not working out. You don't panic and keep retreating out of the play area," said Naomi, distaste evident in her normally laid-back voice. Once Kay nodded her agreement, Naomi continued, "Blue Six's gunner shows some promise. We'll keep an eye on her." Kay nodded again.

Naomi arched one eyebrow and turned to look at her commander. "But those aren't the one you're really interested in. You're interested in the second year, Blue Five's loader."

"Akiyama Yukari. I think we need to have a talk with her," said Kay.

* * *

Next: Part V: You Can't Handle the Truth

Author's Note: Writing battles sequences was not easy, especially as I'm trying not to cheat. I'm trying to both make the battle interesting, make the battle somewhat realistic, convey an important story element, and not leave Yukari's viewpoint unnecessarily. Arisa's also very fun to toy with. Another part of writing this was to explore the dynamics after shuffling the characters around a bit.


	5. You Can't Handle the Truth

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part V: You Can't Handle the Truth

by Civilis

* * *

Akiyama Yukari would eat just about anything. The proof of that was in her collection of military rations from around the world. She had even tried the infamous American 'Meals Refused by the Enemy', though that had since been one of the few items placed on the list of things she would not eat unless incredibly desperate. Still, if she could eat a MRE, School Carrier cafeteria food should have held no terrors for her.

And yet, today, she looked around the food court that was Saunders University High School's main cafeteria and found that nothing looked like it would stay down. She had, with some prodding, settled on a hamburger, plain, and a bottle of water.

The reason for the uneasiness was ahead of her in line, with a tray piled high with tacos. Tacos were largely unfamiliar to Yukari, as Mexico, not having a history of mechanized warfare, held little interest to her.

Kay, Commander of Saunders University High School Tankery Team and proud possessor of the tray full of neatly wrapped tacos, had caught Yukari in the hall on the way to lunch and insisted that Yukari join her for lunch. Her treat. "Are you sure that's all you want?" the blonde asked, as she shoveled her tacos, plus several colorful cans of various beverages, into a plastic bag.

"I'm not that hungry after yesterday's action," Yukari replied. It was, in fact, a half-truth. The lunch request from Kay had just made it obvious that others recognized that what had happened yesterday was unusual, to say the least. There was no rational explanation for the knowledge she had used to win the previous day's engagement. Would they demand an explanation for something she herself didn't understand?

With lunch in hand, the two made their way out of the school building to the parking lot, where a Tankery club jeep was parked. A short, quiet drive took them to the tank garages. From there, it was a quick walk to the door marked Sensha-Do Team Leaders Office in Japanese and Tankery Officers Lounge in English.

The room had once been a standard high school club room, with a folding table, rolling whiteboard, bookshelves, and computer desk. Someone had added a beat up couch at some point. The bookshelves had been filled with military history and tank-related technical books, mostly in Japanese and English, though careful study would spot the occasional umlaut or Cyrillic word. There was a nice painting of a Sherman tank hung on one wall, and photographs of previous years' team members in various activities were scattered around the whiteboard, walls and bookshelves.

On the white board, Arisa's neat handwriting listed the various School Carriers. Prominently circled were Kuromorimine, Pravda, and St. Gloriana, the big three. The others had various markings attached to them, but Yukari couldn't make out the reasoning behind it.

The only occupant of the room was Naomi, one of the two team Executive Officers. She had her feet on the computer desk and was lazily doing something on the computer, though with the screen turned away there was no clue as to what. She didn't react to Kay's entrance, but when she caught sight of Yukari following her in, Naomi took her feet off the desk and stopped paying attention to the computer.

"Have a seat, Yukari," said Kay, as she placed a pair of tacos and a drink on the computer desk, then threw herself on the couch with the rest of her food.

Yukari sat down nervously at the table, and quickly ate her hamburger. When she had finished, she asked the pair, "I assume you want to talk about the match yesterday?"

"Yep!" said Kay. "We've got a full review scheduled this afternoon, but I had some questions. First, though, you can relax. From what Katie told me, you were really on the ball. She's one of our best loaders, and says you really knew what you were doing. It's pretty rare for the trainees to beat the veterans in the first training engagement."

"Credit should go to the crew of Blue Six. Their gunner fired both the killing shots," said Yukari, honestly, "and their commander was pretty sharp, too. That first engagement, at the road, they were able to react to the warning and get the turret around to take out the red tank."

Kay nodded in agreement. "That's what I think as well. There was one thing Katie said which puzzled me. How did you know about the radio interception?"

"The red team movements were too coincidental. They moved right as we were most vulnerable. It's only that we happened to be lagging behind that we ended up behind the tank on the left. Then I saw the radio balloon on the hill," Yukari explained.

"It was smart to lull her into a sense of confidence by sending that false message," said Kay, but there was an edge in her normally friendly voice which hadn't been there.

"I hated lying to the other Blue tanks," Yukari replied, guiltily, "but I didn't see any option which would allow us to get to Arisa. Retreating for a last stand would be giving up. Tanks always advance."

Kay smiled as if Yukari had just passed a secret test. "The commander of Blue Eight retreated all the way off the field," added Kay. "Some people can't handle the stress once things begin to turn against them."

Naomi quietly added, "Like Arisa…", but Kay threw a taco wrapper at her.

"Yukari, why do you do Tankery?" Kay said, sitting up on the couch. "Me, I like the fun of competing. While I'd prefer to win, I'd prefer an honest well fought loss to a cheap win."

"I like the thrill of fighting, gunner to gunner, and the challenge of hunting and taking down difficult targets," said Naomi.

"Arisa, well…" Kay let the sentence trail off.

"Arisa likes to outsmart her opponents," Naomi finished the thought. "She considers planning and intelligence to be the real skill in Tankery. She's a bit of a brat, but she's not that bad once you get to know her. She gets stressed too easily, though."

"I keep telling her to just stick with doing things by the book, but she's always trying to find an edge. I didn't know she had broken the rules. It's a bit much, especially for a training match," added Kay.

"Actually," Yukari pitched in, "the full rules specifically prohibit radio intercept aircraft. It's fuzzy as to whether a balloon counts as an aircraft."

Kay stood up and walked over to the table. "So, Akiyama Yukari, why do you do Sensha-do?"

"I've always liked tanks," Yukari responded, hesitantly. Hadn't she had this discussion with Kay already?

"…and we have plenty of people on the maintenance team that get to work with the tanks all day." Kay looked Yukari straight in the eye. "No, each of us have our reasons we all go out on the field. It's not just a love of tanks."

"It's… it's fun, exciting, competing… fighting…" Yukari found it difficult to say the words, to explain what Sensha-do meant to her. "…playing… along with… my friends."

Kay smiled at the last word, then held up her hand for Yukari to stop. She walked over to the door, then locked it. Returning to the table, she sat opposite Yukari, then beckoned Naomi to join her. The gray haired tank sniper, puzzled, got up from the desk and took the chair next to her commander.

When Kay spoke, there was none of the boisterous energy she usually used, only a warm compassion. "There's something you're not telling me. I can't tell if you're frightened or upset or what, but it's really gotten to you, and it was already hidden there when we first met the other day. From what I can figure out, you're not a bad person, so I promise I won't get mad. Now, tell me."

"You're… you're not going to believe this…" stammered Yukari, until Kay held up her finger.

"All right, then let me start. You had the highest score on the qualifying exam this year. That often means one of two things, either you're a tank otaku, or you cheated to get your way onto the team. Cheaters normally make slip ups, but you really know tanks. And you sound like a fangirl, nobody else would pick a Polish tank as their favorite. But then there's the fact that you know things that only come from experience. Book learning can tell you what it's like to crew a tank, but it won't teach you the real motions you need to, say, load the cannon on a Panzer IV." Kay mimicked Yukari's motions from her introduction, sloppily because she was only vaguely familiar with the Panzer IV's layout.

"That's not all you can't teach. I talked to Katie this morning. She said you kept your head the entire time, in fact, she said you barely flinched when your tank was knocked out. That's an involuntary reaction, not something a fan can pick up at all without having been there." Kay looked at Naomi, and asked "Do you remember what it was like the first time you got your tank knocked out?"

"Yep. That's something you never really forget. I was lining up a shot, my first in a battle, when, bam, the impact felt like it knocked the tank over. Next thing I knew, I was in the commander's lap."

"But that's not the real thing that puzzles me. You've talked about how hard it was for you to make friends. You're shy, probably because people thought your hobby was weird. But, at Ōarai, you made friends, friends you did Sensha-Do with." Kay let her voice trail off.

Naomi, recognizing what was wrong with the statement, turned to look at Kay, then back at Yukari. "But..." she started to ask, but Kay interrupted.

"Friends you did Sensha-do with, at a school which didn't have a Sensha-Do team. And don't tell me they're not real friends, as you nearly got in a fight with Arisa to defend them, over Boko the Bear of all things… what?"

This last was directed to Naomi, who had been knocked out of her shock by the incredulousness of the statement. "Boko? You have Tankery friends that are still into Boko?"

Despite the insult, the break from the seriousness was enough for Yukari to recover some of her composure. More importantly, the earnestness in Kay's voice was enough that Yukari decided to trust her.

She put her hands in her lap and stared at the table, "I know you're serious, Kay, you're calling it Sensha-do instead of Tankery. Frankly, I don't know what's going on either, so if this doesn't make any sense to you, it confuses me even more. From what I remember, Ōarai restarted its Sensha-do team at the start of my second year in High School."

Yukari repeated Kay's interrupting finger, when the other two girls each started to ask a question. Both stopped, to let her continue.

"I'll keep this short. All of this is what I remember, but there's no evidence it actually happened. The student council knew the school was going to be closed. They somehow managed to get the ministry to agree to a deal, show worth by doing something, like producing a winning Sensha-do team, and the school gets to stay open. The council, without telling anyone about the closure threat or the bargain, put together a Sensha-do team and scrounged up enough tanks. Kay?"

"So, the school records are wrong, and you're 17? This is your third year of high school?"

"All I know is, one day it's October, middle of my second year at Ōarai. The next morning it's April, six months earlier, start of my second year, only I'm starting at Saunders, Ōarai is closed and I don't know where my friends are. While I try to figure out what happened, my best bet at finding my friends… or any friends… seemed to be to do what I know from my time at Ōarai, which was…"

Naomi tossed Yukari a clean napkin. "Blow. You're starting to blubber." As Yukari complied, Naomi continued. "You made your friends through Tankery, so that's the best way to get in touch with them?"

"I… I didn't know any of them until we all started Sensha-do. But most of them weren't people that would have done Sensha-do if the Student Council hadn't pushed it."

"This sounds like a bad science fiction plot," groaned Naomi, before Kay cut her off.

"You're right! You failed to win the tournament, so they closed the school. Now, you've gone back in time to fix the mistake, by… winning the tournament at a different school? Wait, that doesn't make sense…"

"Actually, in this 'dream' we won the national tournament, and they agreed to keep the school open." Actually, Yukari remembered it being more complicated than that, but the memories of what really happened seemed harder to explain.

Naomi looked skeptical at the claim. "An improvised team from a no-name school beat Kuromorimine? That sounds like the dream of a tank fangirl."

"Naomi, there's one thing you're forgetting," Kay chided her subordinate, then turned back to Yukari, "Did Arisa use the radio intercept trick against you in the nationals? Is that where you saw it, and is that how you knew that her tank was slow to reload because of the radios?"

"Yes," said Yukari, meeting Kay's gaze for the first time.

"I checked with Arisa's crew this morning," confirmed Naomi, "and she added the radios in in place of the ready ammo rack in the turret. They were having a hard time reloading, especially because they hadn't spent any time practicing with the layout. As usual, Arisa was hoping to win without her crew having to do anything. When the two Blue tanks stumbled on her position, everything went to hell."

"The first round of the National Championships, in the…"

"Let's call it the 'other timeline'," Kay proposed. "That sounds all mysterious and science fictiony!"

"All right, in the other timeline, we faced you first round in the National Championships," Yukari explained. "That's when she tried to use it, and we turned it back on her, and used it to find her."

"Who else did you fight?" asked Naomi. When Kay looked at her, she added, "If this is somehow real, that might be good to know…"

"Including practice and exhibition matches, we fought you, Anzio, Pravda and St. Gloriana. And, of course, Kuromorimine." The last three each elicited questioning expressions from Naomi, but she let Yukari continue. "Against you, we had a Type 89 out scouting after we figured out that our radio was being intercepted. It managed to find the clearing that Arisa's tank, your flag tank, was parked in."

"You used a Type 89 in the nationals?" asked Kay, incredulously.

"Hey! It's not that bad. Well… you're right, we took what we could find. Anyway, it found the flag tank, but there's no way the gun on that was going to do anything, so they executed a 'strategic withdrawal' before Arisa could shoot them. Arisa panicked because she realized she had the rest of your tanks on a wild goose chase based on our radio intercepts, and she chased after them. The Type 89 was crewed by a group of girls from our volleyball team; one of them managed to serve an emergency smoke marker onto the front of the Sherman during the retreat."

As Yukari cheered up at relating the happy memories of her Sensha-Do history, Kay and Naomi began to chuckle at the enthusiasm with which she retold the story.

"Eventually, the Type 89 made it back to the rest of our tanks, about the time the smoke marker went out. At which point, it was Arisa's turn to beat a hasty 'strategic withdrawal'. You two showed up with the cavalry to chase us chasing after Arisa. Our Panzer IV managed to knock out Arisa moments before being taken out by a long range shot by Naomi. Being hit by a 17pdr is something you don't forget."

Kay leaned back and smiled. "While your story is crazy, and either an impossible delusion or a science fiction nightmare, what matters is that I know you believe you are telling the truth."

"Personally, I think this is some bizarre delusion. Some people wake up suddenly thinking they're Napoleon. You wake up with Tankery skills. I don't care; as long as you can do the job, you're fine by me," Naomi added. "Let's just keep this from everyone else; I don't think I could ever explain away this to anyone else, especially Arisa."

"She'd probably believe we were pranking her again," Kay laughed. "In fact, it would be almost tempting to try. Still, we'll keep to ourselves. Yukari, if you think of anything else that can possibly help us, let one of us know."

Yukari looked at the two girls. Kay, at least, had been friendly in the 'other timeline', and she seemed sincere. Naomi didn't believe her, but Yukari had to admit her story seemed unbelievable.

Yukari realized that whether or not her memories were real didn't matter at this point. She was here. She was doing Sensha-Do, with tanks. She would continue to move forward. If new information showed up, she would reassess her strategy, but until then, she would advance.

"I'll do that. Thanks for listening to me," she said.

Kay stuck out her hand. "And, Yukari, welcome to Saunders."

Yukari shook it enthusiastically.

* * *

Next: Part VI: Out of the Frying Pan

Author's Note: Why Saunders? To me, Saunders is under-represented in the original story. St. Gloriana and Pravda both get another chance to shine in the movie. Saunders is also an underdog, at least compared to the other major schools. We also have plenty of art of Yukari in the Saunders uniform.


	6. Out of the Frying Pan

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part VI: Out of the Frying Pan

by Civilis

* * *

"Whose brilliant idea was this?" said Akiyama Yukari from the radio operator's seat of the Saunders University High School C-47 as the plane prepared for landing on the Japanese mainland.

"From what I understand, it was your idea," snarked Arisa from the navigators seat. "Thanks for volunteering."

"Now, Agent Akiyama, do you have everything you need for this mission?" asked Kay from the copilot's seat.

Yukari went over her mission gear. "One nondescript school bag, check. One school uniform, consisting of shirt, tie, sweater, skirt, and tights, check. One cellphone with camera, fully charged, check. One improvised student emergency rations pack, consisting of four candy bars and a canteen of water, check. One book, supplementary reading material, for the use of, Early Battles of the Eighth Army: Crusader to the Alamein…."

"Nobody cares what you're reading, Yukari." Arisa snarked again, then turned to Kay. "Do you really think we're going to get anything useful from this?"

"I think you're just complaining that someone else suggested a crazy plan to get intelligence, and it's one that happens to be explicitly allowed by the rules." From the pilot's seat, Naomi grinned at seeing Arisa's reaction, suggesting that her barb was at least partially on target.

* * *

In fact, the idea had been Yukari's.

After her private conversation with Kay and Naomi, Yukari had been moved out of Training Company B, citing her 'natural talent for Tankery', and had been put through a crash boot camp to make sure she was up to Saunders standards on the M4 Sherman.

At first, some of the other trainees had complained, but the other girls that had been with her on Blue 5 and the commander of Blue 6 had quickly come to her defense, praising her tactical skills and calm head.

Arisa had also complained about the decision. She had stopped when Naomi had threatened to make the official recorded reason for the decision that Yukari had 'outsmarted Arisa', thus preserving Arisa's humiliating loss for future generations of Saunders tankers.

Yukari hadn't yet been made a full member of the Saunders team, but she had an excellent shot at making one of the many vacancies on the team.

She wasn't the only one in that situation. A number of team members had graduated, and that meant that some of trainees already in the pipeline, most of them now second year students, needed to be moved up to fill in the vacancies, ideally before the National tournament.

For that reason, Kay had called an all hands team meeting, gathering the current team members, both Training Companies, the associated tank maintenance crew and other necessary personnel into one of the conference rooms.

"All right, everyone! Next weekend, I have arranged a practice match, a ten on ten annihilation battle, against St. Gloriana's Girls College. I will be distributing an Order of Battle next week. Until then, we'll be holding an accelerated practice schedule and Intelligence will be distributing a briefing on what we can expect," Kay lectured from the stage.

Someone in the audience raised a hand. "Will this be a home or away game?"

"Neither." For some reason, Kay turned to look at Yukari in the middle of the audience.

"There's an old Tankery competition area that is still on the register as a valid field, and the locals were excited to see it used again for the chance to make some money from the spectators. We will be playing at the completely unimportant town of Ōarai." Several people, including Arisa, looked at Kay oddly at the emphasis she placed on 'completely unimportant', while Naomi rolled her eyes.

Arisa obligingly called up a map on the wall screen of Ōarai and the surrounding area, looking much as it had before the town's associated Carrier School had closed.

"Now, we happen to have a former resident of Ōarai on the team. Akiyama Yukari, could you come up here and give us an overview of what we can expect from a Tankery perspective?" Kay beckoned Yukari join her on stage.

Yukari headed up to the stage. While she didn't like being singled out, she understood Kay's strategy. They could have tried to hold the battle at their own practice field, but St. Gloriana would have demanded some sort of compromise. Picking a neutral location as a reasonable compromise made sense, but picking a supposedly neutral location when you have someone that knew the terrain turned the situation to Saunders advantage. It wasn't cheating, per se, just playing smart.

On stage, she gave a rundown of the area and conditions. She pointed out the dirt pits inland where the battle usually started, the narrow streets of the city proper where maneuverability and ambush played a major role, and more unusual areas like the beach and golf course.

"Thanks, Yukari. We'll be passing out maps when we get closer to the match. Anyone have any other ideas, let us know," with that, Kay dismissed the team. She motioned for Yukari, Naomi, and Arisa to stay as the rest filed out of the room.

"Yukari, I'll want anything you have on Ōarai to go to Arisa so she can prepare some plans. We need as many people that know the area as possible," said Kay, who then turned to Arisa. "Once you get info from Yukari, I want you to find time to head to Ōarai and get an idea of the terrain yourself. Take a camera, bring back some pictures."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Arisa, doubtfully, looking at Yukari.

"It's good to get some experience with new battlefields, and learning to read the terrain is a skill people need to learn," said Kay. "Besides, I'm testing Yukari. We were talking in the club office the other day, and she was describing her old home town almost like a battlefield. I want to see how right she was. She almost sounds like she'd make a good deputy Intelligence Officer."

Yukari was torn between feeling happy at Kay's praise and nervous as to whether she could live up to the hype. Still, it would be nice to have some confirmation that her knowledge really meant something to someone else.

Arisa still had her doubts. "Ok, yes, fine, she beat me and based on her briefing, she seems to have a good eye for tank terrain. Is that enough to give us a real advantage over St. Gloriana? Their home field at Kanagawa isn't that bad."

Kay smiled. "It's a practice match. We need to get the new people some experience in the field against a real opponent, and we have some people that look like they could use a bit of a reminder of what it's like. That includes you, Miss Command-From-The-Rear." Kay lightly tapped Arisa's forehead, as if she were an unruly brat. "You seem to have forgotten what to do when faced with an enemy tank. That means both of you are going to need to be on the team for the match. I think I'll take command myself. Naomi, mind sitting this one out? You get plenty of practice, and we don't want to advertise your gunnery skills before the tournament."

"Everyone knows we have a Firefly, so it's not a secret. But I understand. I'll watch from the stands and see what I can pick up from there," said Naomi.

"Good idea," said Kay. "We want all the intelligence we can get. It's going to be tough in the tournament this year, so we have to take whatever we can."

Arisa looked doubtful. "Didn't you just subject me to a rather humiliating lecture about fair play?"

"Gathering intelligence in person before the match is explicitly legal," Yukari chimed in. "In fact, that reminds me of something I heard about… last year. Can I run something by you in private, Kay?"

"Sure," said Kay, catching on to the reference. "Meet me in the office in 15 minutes?"

15 minutes later, Kay entered the office to find Yukari waiting. She locked the door behind her, and turned to Yukari. "Ok, did you remember something that might help? We know St. Gloriana regularly uses a Churchill VII, backed by Matilda IIs and several Crusader IIIs. They have at least one Cromwell, but they don't use it regularly, if it's in operational condition. Even if it was, they almost certainly wouldn't reveal it in a practice match. Did they have anything else?"

"No, I didn't see anything else. But that's not what I wanted to mention. That rule allowing intelligence gathering, it doesn't just apply to checking out the battlefield before a match, it allows you to check out the other school. Several times, I snuck into another school, donned their uniform, and got useful info before a battle," Yukari explained.

"So you snuck onto St. Gloriana in the other timeline?" said Kay, sensing a promising source of fun.

"No. I just did it to Anzio… and Saunders." Yukari blushed guiltily.

"So, what happened when you tried it against us? What did you find out?" Kay seemed more curious than put out by the revelation.

"Well, I snuck aboard on one of the Sunkus supply ships, switched to the Saunders uniform, and was able to get into the planning meeting where you revealed your order of battle. I guess I asked too many questions, because Naomi eventually recognized I wasn't a student, and asked me my rank and name." Yukari blushed and looked away.

"With that reaction, I have to know what you said."

"I said 'Sergeant Oddball, Third Class'. You…"

It was useless to continue the sentence, as Kay was doubled over in laughter on the floor. Finally, after the laughing fit finally ended, Kay managed to squeak out, "Kelly's Heroes! We used to watch that all the time on club movie night!" After pausing to stand up and catch her breath, she finally was able to ask, with almost a straight face, "What did I do?"

"Basically, that. Naomi and Arisa, on the other hand… well, I strategically withdrew myself off the ship."

Kay threw her arm around Yukari's shoulders. "We shouldn't need to spy before a practice match, but there are three reasons I'm going to insist you do this. One, we might actually find something out. Two, this will give you a chance to see if any of your friends ended up at St. Gloriana."

"I haven't been able to find any of my friends on the transfer student list here, I doubt I'm going to just run into one at St. Gloriana." Yukari complained. Even with a narrowed down list of Ōarai Girls Academy High School transfer students, it was hard, and there were some of her Ōarai teammates, like the automobile club and the gamer girls, where she didn't even know their full names.

"If we're assuming this is some weird science fiction story, you're destined to run into at least one," countered Kay, in an effort to cheer her up. "More importantly, do you know what the most important reason we're sneaking you onto St. Gloriana is?"

"No?" replied Yukari, weakly.

"Because it sounds like it will be a lot of fun," Kay grinned. "Now, what will you need?"

* * *

Two days later, the shipboard mail service delivered a plain brown package addressed to Akiyama Yukari to the Tankery garage. Kay, who had picked up the package, immediately ran to find Yukari meeting with Arisa and Naomi at the club room computer terminal, checking an online map of Ōarai.

"Yukari! It's here! Try it on!" said Kay, bouncing up and down with enthusiasm.

"What's here?" asked Naomi.

All Kay could do was grin. "It's a surprise."

Yukari took the package into the bathroom, and emerged minutes later in a rather proper blue school uniform of sweater, skirt, and tights. She twirled for the other three girls.

"Switching schools, Yukari?" asked Arisa, obviously in a bad mood. "Don't tell me this is some horribly stupid plan for getting intelligence on St. Gloriana."

"Yukari had a plan to sneak onto St. Gloriana and see if she could get us some up to date info as to what they're up to," replied Kay. "All we need to do is fly her to shore to meet up with the underway resupply ship."

Naomi looked over the uniform. "Where did you get a St. Gloriana uniform from, anyway?"

"It's amazing what you can find online," Yukari answered.

Arisa immediately called up a web browser. A few keystrokes later, she was looking at a site selling any and all Girls School Carrier uniforms. "Why are there men's sizes listed?" she asked.

"We'll tell you when you're older," quipped Naomi. "Are you sure this is legal?"

"I checked, and unlike radio interception," said Kay, "espionage is completely within the rules."

Arisa, already embarrassed, blushed even further.

"What happens if they catch you?" asked Naomi, as she used Arisa's embarrassment to snag the computer screen and begin writing down the web address.

Kay adopted a mock-serious tone. "Yukari, if you get caught, the Student Council will disavow all knowledge of your existence." Returning to her normal, less serious demeanor, she continued, "I think the worse they can do is lock you up in detention for a few days, then ship you out. Of course, getting exposed would mean they would likely change their plans. I've checked the schedule, and the next supply run for St. Gloriana leaves port late tomorrow afternoon, and should be docked there all the day after. That should give you some time to explore. Now, change out of that before it gets dirty. It's almost time to go."

"Go for what?" the other three asked.

"We have a meeting with the Student Discipline Committee, aka the School Patrol. If Yukari can sneak onto another school, someone else could sneak here. We're going to come up with a plan to keep anyone from doing that. After that, I've arranged with the Movie Club to borrow a theatre to have another club movie night. We're watching '39 Steps' to help Yukari with her infiltration!"

Arisa sighed, "I'll pass, I haven't been getting much sleep and I have a headache."

"I don't think watching an old movie is going to help you with spying in the real world. This is just sneaking into St. Gloriana, not some action movie," said Naomi, "but I'm game."

* * *

The next day, the landing on the mainland at the airport nearest the Sunkus cargo port was uneventful. The jeep was quickly unloaded, and Naomi drove Yukari, already in a Sunkus employee uniform, to the cargo port. It was a simple matter to get around the sleeping gate guard and board the ship set to head out to St. Gloriana.

Once aboard, Yukari took advantage of the many nooks and crannies to find a comfortable place to wait out the overnight ride. She had barely settled down with her bag as a pillow when her rest was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

She looked up to see a young woman in the ships' crew uniform standing over her with a disappointed expression. "If you're going to sneak aboard, you could at least find a spot I'm not likely to stumble on."

Seeing Yukari's scared face the woman relaxed slightly, and smiled. "Let me guess, this is your first time sneaking back to school after a shore trip?" When Yukari nodded weakly, not willing to admit that she'd done this before without incident, the woman continued, "Relax, while we can't condone sneaking aboard, we've never been able to stop students, so we generally just put up with it. Heck, I did it myself back in the day when I was in the ship-handling course. I do believe you're the first student I've seen to use a disguise."

Yukari blinked in surprise. Her previous trips had been uneventful, but she'd been lucky in that both times Ōarai had been close enough to Saunders and Anzio. This was the first time she'd had to worry about spending the night aboard ship. On the other hand, School Carriers were supposed to teach individual resourcefulness, so it wasn't a surprise that the supply ships were used as informal ferries.

The sailor gestured to Yukari to stand up and follow her. "I'll put you somewhere out of the way where you won't get hurt. Just don't interfere with the crew. "

They reached a small sheltered area covering one of the hatches down below. "You can wait here and nobody should bother you. It's not luxury accommodations, but it's out of the wind and spray. If you're going to do this more often, transfer to Bellwall; from what I hear they have so many delinquents sneaking back and forth the resupply crew makes a decent bonus providing services on the trip."

"I can offer you a candy bar." Yukari offered one from her bag, which was quickly pocketed.

"Well, it's something. Alright, you're new at this and don't seem too bad, so when we get to the carrier, wait at least a half-hour for the docking and paperwork, then head across like you're one the crew. I'll make sure nobody will rat you out." With that, the crewman left Yukari for the trip.

* * *

Next: Part VII: St. Gloriana Rules the Waves

Author's Note: What GuP story would be complete without Yukari infiltrating someone? Here's another point where I had to make some concessions. While we know Saunders has a C-5 and a couple of B-29s (in the manga spin-offs, at least), giving them a C-47 for a short passenger hop seemed more realistic. And the scene on the supply ship let me throw in an aside about the job opportunities for the ship crew course.


	7. St Gloriana Rules the Waves

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part VII: St. Gloriana Rules the Waves

by Civilis

* * *

The next morning, Yukari awoke to find the massive shape of the St. Gloriana School Carrier looming over the resupply ship. She watched as the crew docked with the School Carrier, and mechanisms for transferring the shipping containers that supplied the school linked up. As the crewman had said, it took about a half-hour for the supply linkup to complete and supply ship and school carrier crew to make sure everything was working for the area around the 'gangplank', actually a sturdy, semi-enclosed footbridge, to clear out. She tried to act casual, and the crew didn't do anything to give her away as she headed aboard.

Once aboard, it was a simple matter to find the stairs leading to the main 'flight deck' level of the school itself. While the many School Carriers looked different, the modular construction made most of the internals relatively similar.

Near the top, Yukari found one of the ship's 'heads' and took the opportunity to switch outfits in a bathroom stall, then stash the bag behind a ceiling panel. Hopefully looking like any other St. Gloriana student, she finished the climb and emerged on the deck of St. Gloriana itself.

She found herself in the middle of a small garden, itself placed oddly in the center of a traffic circle. The stairwell housing behind her was concealed with a pleasant stone façade and some climbing Ivy, giving it the look of an old European cottage. Around the circle, the buildings of St. Gloriana had the feel of a quaint, quiet European city, rather than the bustling American metropolis of Saunders or the sleepy Japanese town of Ōarai. Still, there were commonalities. The dorm buildings mixed in with the shops and houses were the common school carrier style, and this sense of familiarity steeled her nerves.

Yukari remembered that the Sensha-Do garages were usually near the ship's 'tower', visible off in the distance, so cut across the flowerbed in that general direction. She had just made it across the traffic circle, which, like many school carrier roads, saw relatively little traffic, when she was brought up short by a piercing whistle, followed by a cry "Hey! Stop!"

Turning, Yukari saw a girl in the common St. Gloriana uniform with the addition of a 'Student Discipline Committee' armband, although unlike the Ōarai armbands, there was the addition of a white and black checkered band below the characters. She held a whistle, and was angrily pointing at Yukari.

Yukari paled and froze, wondering if she'd been caught already.

"I'll let you off with a warning," the girl lectured, and pointed at the 'keep out' sign on the garden, "but heed the signs and keep out of the gardens."

Yukari bowed apologetically, and the girl headed off, mumbling about keeping the school neat. It seemed obvious to Yukari that the type of girls that gravitated to the Discipline Committee seemed the same no matter which school you went to, and wondered where Sodoko and her followers had ended up.

She spotted a nearby sign, and wondered why she needed to Keep Calm and Carry On, but decided it was probably good advice, so resumed her walk towards the tower. The trip was made more relaxing, if longer, by the more refined layout of St. Gloriana. Where Saunders used an efficient grid layout, St. Gloriana was a maze of winding streets. Eating establishments, which would be fast-food places at Saunders, here were built to resemble quaint English pubs. Even the standardized dorm buildings common to all School Carriers had climbing ivy on the walls.

At one point, a wide grass field lay across her route. Seeing no Discipline Committee members, she started across it, only to nearly get trampled by a girl on horseback in full English riding gear, earning her another 'no trespassing' lecture from the St. Gloriana Riding Club, and forcing her to backtrack.

The next field she came across, she decided to figure out what it was for before trying to cross it. Its purpose was quickly identified as something fast whizzed past her, down the field. Checking around, she quickly determined that the field belonged to the Archery Club, although its members practiced with longbows and European gear rather than the standard yumi and Kyudo gear. Given the likelihood of being accidentally impaled, she detoured again.

Finally traversing the maze of gardens, athletic fields, gardens, cottage houses for the various clubs, and more gardens, Yukari reached a point where she could see the top of the Sensha-do garages and the observation tower, and, more importantly, could hear the sound of tank fire.

From her vantage point on the other side of the road, she could see two options for getting closer. The first was to take the wide open access road to the training area, but that would have left her visible. The second was a hedge wall around part of the Sensha-do area, but getting to it required crossing another garden.

Seeing nobody watching her, Yukari crossed to the garden, protected only by a small sign reading 'No Trespassing. St. Gloriana Flower Arranging Society' in Japanese and English. Unlike the other gardens, it had a path of stepping stones, so she gingerly crossed the garden using the stones and made her way to the hedge and peeked through.

Clearly visible on the other side were the tanks of St. Gloriana engaged in gunnery practice. All the tanks were the familiar models, a Churchill VII, four Matilda IIs, and four Crusader IIIs. There was also a Daimler Dingo armored car parked behind the tank line, with barely visible blonde and orange heads poking out from the top, recognizable even at a distance as the St. Gloriana Sensha-do Club's Commander, Darjeeling, and her assistant, Pekoe. The two seemed to be enjoying their late-morning tea despite the din of cannon fire from the tanks. Yukari obligingly filmed the firing drill.

After a few minutes, the practice drill seemed to come to an end, and the tanks stopped firing. The sudden cessation of noise revealed two other sounds, another tank engine behind Yukari and a girl's voice saying "… I said hey! You by the hedge!"

Yukari quickly concealed her phone in her hand as she extracted herself from the hedge and turned around.

Parked on the road was a tank missing its turret. From the looks of it, this was because the tank was being restored, rather than from any damage. Although the hull was similar to the Crusader, Yukari recognized it as the later and much more powerful Cromwell; Kay had mentioned they had one, and it looked like they were indeed restoring it. Standing in the turret ring, yelling at her, was the rose-haired figure she recognized as Rosehip, the usual commander of St. Gloriana's Crusader tanks.

"I told you guys last time that it gets too loud here and you need to not go picking flowers when we're practicing gunnery," Rosehip continued shouting.

Yukari realized that she had been mistaken for a member of the flower arranging club. She quickly bent over, using the motion and angle to conceal stashing her phone in her sweater. She then picked some of the flowers to hide her purpose and stood up and bowed at the girl. "I'm sorry, I didn't think about that."

"I'm going to need to talk to your club leader about this. Come on, I'll give you a ride back." Rosehip beckoned Yukari over to the tank. On the one hand, there was the risk she'd be exposed when it was determined she wasn't a club member, Yukari rationalized, but on the other hand there was the chance that Rosehip would spill some information about the tank. That, and she would get a ride in a Cromwell. She made her way over, and accepted a hand up to the empty turret ring.

Besides some improvised seats, the turret area had a half full bowl of water oddly duct-taped to the floor. The area around the bowl was wet. "Can I put these there?" asked Yukari, holding out the flowers.

"No, we're using that to test the tank's stability. We're supposed to be able to drive around without spilling our tea, after all. That's easy for the plodding behemoths, but for these faster machines, it's stupid," the tanker complained bitterly. She tapped on the driver's shoulder, and said, "On the way back, stop at the flower arranging club. Don't go too fast, we have a passenger."

The driver nodded, and the tank started off down the road at a reasonable pace.

"Don't tanks usually have turrets?" Yukari asked.

"We're fixing it up. Need to get it road worthy before we put the turret on." Rosehip cheered up as the tank drove around the ship, deftly handling the turns and roundabouts, although at what seemed to Yukari to be a relatively slow pace, especially for a fast tank like the Cromwell. There was also an odd shake to the tank as it rolled along, as if something wasn't working right.

The drive itself gave Yukari another tour of St. Gloriana. The tank's route took it through some of the less traveled regions of the ship. In addition to the regular studies courses, School Carriers had courses set aside for students studying technical vocations. The tank rolled past hangars where students repaired cars and aircraft. They passed a rugby field where girls practiced a much less civilized sport than horseback riding and archery, and a field where the agricultural students herded sheep. Still, even if it lacked the culture the school was known for, there was a feeling of Britishness about the place.

Eventually, they made their way back to the main hub of St. Gloriana, that of teatime and gardens. Students waved and tourists took pictures of the machine as it passed by.

They ended up stopping in front of another vine-covered cottage, nestled next to several greenhouses. The sign in front indicated it was the clubhouse of the St. Gloriana Flower Arranging Society. Rosehip dismounted, and then helped Yukari out of the turret. "This won't be more than a moment," she said to the driver, who nodded in response.

Rosehip barged into the club building ahead of her. Yukari followed, in the hopes that she could bluff her way out of not actually being a member of the club.

Despite the exterior, the interior was modelled in a traditional Japanese style, with a tatami floor and interior paper walls. The contrast between the front outer wall, made to blend in with St. Gloriana's English architecture, and the rest of the building made for quite an interesting look. The room itself was largely empty, save for some floral pieces in various stages of assembly.

"Hey! Anyone here?" called the rose-haired tanker.

One of the interior sliding doors opened to reveal a mildly annoyed St. Gloriana student with long, dark hair that looked very familiar to Yukari.

"For your safety, we need you to keep your club members away from the garden by the Sensha-do garage while we are practicing," lectured Rosehip.

A familiar voice replied, "I'm sorry to trouble you. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again." The girl bowed apologetically to Rosehip. Yukari stared in shock as the girl walked over and took the flowers from her, then placed them in a vase. "Aster, Peony, and Amaryllis. I think those will look lovely together," said Isuzu Hana, formerly of Ōarai, now apparently a member of St. Gloriana's Ikebana Society. She spent a few moments carefully straightening up the flowers.

"I do admit I always like coming in here," said Rosehip, as she watched. "Still, I have practice to get to, and will you please just not use that garden while we're practicing." With that request, she turned around, and quietly left the clubhouse. A minute passed in relative silence, until the sound of the engine outside faded away.

"So what brings you to St. Gloriana, Yukari? Besides checking out the Sensha-do club's tanks," asked Hana as she neatly arranged Yukari's flowers.

"Uh… uh…" Yukari stammered. She hadn't met Hana before starting Sensha-do at Ōarai.

Hana smiled, obviously satisfied with her work. "Are you making one of your movies again?"

"Uh… wait. How do you know about that? I haven't even done that yet!"

Hana set aside the flower arrangement. She then took Yukari's hand, and led her into the room she had originally been working in. Like the main room, the side room was also home to numerous arrangements in various states of construction. Unlike the other arrangements, which were simple, traditional pieces, these were bolder, more colorful and more energetic. Hana gestured to an open corner of the room, and Yukari sat down while Hana retrieved a teapot and some cups from behind the arrangements.

"I have reason to believe this clubhouse is one of the only places you can get a cup of green tea in St. Gloriana," said Hana as she poured a cup for herself and for Yukari.

Once tea had been poured, and Hana had taken a few sips, she turned back to Yukari. "Let me tell you a story. A couple of days ago, I woke up from a very strange dream. I dreamed of a second year of high school at Ōarai, and of being on a Sensha-do team. It was a very vivid dream, and I remember meeting people, including you. Now you come into this clubhouse, and you obviously remember me, and talk very mysteriously." She continued sipping her tea, to give Yukari a chance to speak.

"I had a similar dream, actually. Although doesn't this suggest that it wasn't just a dream?" asked Yukari. "I remember going to sleep in October at Ōarai and waking up in April, and being told Ōarai was closed and I was a Saunders student. I don't remember the school closing. Until today, I didn't know where any of my friends were."

Hana set down her drink and gave Yukari's arm a reassuring squeeze. "I do remember Ōarai closing, and that mother suggested I transfer to St. Gloriana because they have a strong Ikebana society. But I also remember saving Ōarai, and the feel of the tank's gun. They both seem real, so I don't know what to think."

Yukari blinked. This was the first real evidence that this wasn't a dream. Someone else remembered Ōarai. Someone else remembered her.

"Do… do you know of what happened to any of the others?" asked Yukari, struggling to keep her voice level.

"Actually, I do…"

The silence was interrupted by the sounds of the front door of the clubhouse opening and several girls talking as they walked across the clubhouse.

"Hana, who's your friend?" said another familiar voice. Yukari turned to see three more St. Gloriana students in the front room of the clubhouse, looking in. The girl at the door to Hana's workroom, the speaker, was recognizable as another former Ōarai student.

"Ah, Yuzu, this is a friend from Ōarai, Akiyama Yukari. She just stopped in to visit." Hana turned to Yukari. "You may remember Yuzuka from Ōarai, she was the Vice President of the Student Council our final year."

Koyama Yuzuka, usually known as Yuzu, smiled. "Are you looking to take up Ikebana, Akiyama? It's very relaxing. I had always wanted to try my hand at it. I'm still just a beginner, though. Isuzu is practically a master already."

One of the other students spoke up. "Don't sell yourself short, Yuzu! You're a master at paperwork and organization and stuff! We made you the society president because you're really good at that sort of thing."

Yuzu blushed. "Hana, we'll let you catch up with your friend. We have some work to do in the greenhouses, anyways. See you later, Akiyama!" The three promptly left.

Once she heard the door close, Hana dropped her smile. "Yuzu doesn't seem to remember anything out of the ordinary. I've asked her about dreams and tanks, but she always seems confused as to why I asked."

So it wasn't everyone, Yukari sadly realized. Why her and Hana, though? Still, one was good enough for now. One told her she wasn't alone.

"Have you seen anyone else?" asked Yukari.

"I know Saori went to Anzio. I emailed her asking if she had any weird dreams, but she keeps talking about having to cook. Aside from Yuzu, I didn't see any names on the student roster, but it would be easy to miss one. I did ask Yuzu about the others on student council."

"What did she say?"

"They had some kind of argument. Anzu tried to find a way to keep the school open, but she failed," Hana explained.

Yukari recalled that in the 'other timeline', to use Naomi's phrase, the Student Council President had been able to strike a deal to stop Ōarai from closing with the Ministry if they could win the Sensha-do tournament.

"Momo was… was Momo."

Yukari smiled knowingly, as the Student Council Public Relations Manager had even more of an emotional streak when stressed than Arisa.

"When it all failed, they decided to go their separate ways," Hana concluded.

Anything further was interrupted by the beeping of the alarm on Yukari's phone. "I should get going. I had enough trouble getting to the Sensha-do field, I want to make sure I get back in plenty of time before the supply ship leaves."

Hana pulled out her own phone. "Can I get your number and email? If I find anything, I'll let you know."

"Sure! You want to give me Saori's as well?"

"I will, but it's probably best if you don't contact her. She probably doesn't remember you," replied Hana.

"That makes sense. I don't want to go confusing people." Yukari grinned slyly. "You wouldn't be willing to pass along information on St. Gloriana's Sensha-do team, would you?"

"It always comes back to tanks with you." Hana adopted the most serious look she could and replied with as much dignity as she could, "I am a St. Gloriana student, and I will not betray my school."

Seeing Yukari's expression, she then relaxed a bit and smiled. "However, I will overlook this little incident for old time's sake. I will also walk you back to make sure you don't get lost on the way."

The walk back to the stairwell access was less convoluted than trying to find the Sensha-do garage, and Hana permitted Yukari to film the scenery as they walked. They stopped at Sunkus to pick up some food, Hana for dinner in her dorm and Yukari for the trip back, and she grabbed a little extra in case she needed to bribe another crewmember.

The pair hugged at the stairwell, making sure to stay on the path.

"It was good to see you," said Hana. "Please let me know if you will be stopping by again."

"I'll try to find a time I can visit without tanks getting in the way," replied Yukari. She looked around at the garden. "I can see why you like it here. See you around, Hana."

"See you around, Yukari," said Hana, as the door to the stairwell closed shut behind her friend.

* * *

"This place is a dump," said Arisa, as she walked along Ōarai's waterfront, kicking pebbles along the ground. "I'm going to the hotel and getting some sleep."

"I found today quite enjoyable," countered Kay, as she swung the shopping bags containing spoils from her expedition to the outlet mall. "Besides, it's barely 1800. We've still got time for karaoke!"

"You two got to go shopping while I had to run around looking at dirt pits and golf courses from a 'tactical perspective'," moaned Arisa. "If it means not having to put up with you, next time I'll dress up and play spy."

"Did you catch that Naomi? Arisa volunteered to go along with Yukari next time!"

Naomi smiled. "Why, yes, I did."

"Ah! I'm getting sleep… after I get some food," groaned Arisa

Spotting a family restaurant down the street, Arisa stomped off down the street. The other two decided to follow after her at a more sedate pace.

Once in the restaurant, and after being seated, Arisa collapsed face down on the table even before ordering, and started moaning.

Naomi, worried, looked over at the smaller girl. "What are you so tired for? We let you sleep in this morning."

Arisa groaned again. "I haven't been able to sleep well lately. I've been having weird dreams."

"Dreams?" said the other two simultaneously.

"Yeah, about that stupid radio intercept trick. I dreamed I tried it out in the tournament and some no-name school did what Yukari did, and it cost me… us the tournament."

"That's oddly specific," said Kay, suddenly very interested. "Tell me more."

Arisa sat up and groaned angrily. "There I am, listening in on the radio, and some ancient Imperial Army rattle trap rust bucket prewar piece of crap blunders out of the woods."

As she ranted, she raised her voice, and her tone became less weary and more furious. "I chase after them through the woods and smoke but I can't quite catch them and they keep running away and laughing… laughing at me."

The people at the surrounding tables began to stare as Arisa's pent up rage kept flowing out. Their waitress stepped away rather than interrupt. "And when I finally catch up to them… there are more of them. More enemy tanks."

From the background, one of the onlookers asked, "Is she drunk?" Kay waved her off, interested to hear more.

Naomi pulled out her phone and began to work the touchscreen.

"And so I run, and run and run and RUN but no… BAM!" Arisa hit the table theatrically.

"And you," she pointed at Kay, "you were happy even though we lost because it was a fair fight at the end and the tanks were happy but you were going to have a talk with me." She stopped.

Most of the people within earshot stopped to hear what came next.

"And then?" supplied Kay.

Arisa collapsed face-first into the table. At least one of the surrounding tables broke into applause.

"Is she going to be okay?" asked the waitress.

"She'll be fine," said Kay, before ordering for the table.

Twenty minutes later, the aroma of a hamburger aroused Arisa from her unexpected but welcome nap.

"You were talking about a dream. I ordered for you. Eat up!" said Kay, shoving the plate with the hamburger at the smaller girl.

When Arisa had finished the hamburger, in fact, finished the whole plate of food without more than one or two fries vanishing to Kay's quick fingers, she turned to Kay. "Look, I'm sorry I went a little crazy like that. It's just a lack of sleep."

Naomi looked at Kay, who nodded subtly. "Arisa, your dream. The tank that you fought, did it look like this?" She brought up her phone.

"Yeah, that's it. Riveted hull, yellow paint, and that Imperial Chrysanthemum on the front. It had a blue emblem and a white bird on it, I guess."

"Like the Chihatan logo, but reversed?" asked Kay. Naomi returned to pulling up something on her phone.

"No, the blue logo was on the front, with a white character in the center. The bird was on the side, and kinda like a cartoon. I think it was supposed to be a duck," replied Arisa, puzzled. "I know it wasn't Chihatan, because it had the wrong colors, and they weren't charging at me. Besides, I also remember a StuG and a Lee and a couple of gray tanks."

"Could one have been a Panzer IV?" continued Kay.

"Either a Panzer III or a IV, and the other one was a smaller tank. It's all hazy. Why are you asking about this? It was a dream," insisted Arisa.

Naomi passed over her phone, which was displaying a picture from the internet. "Did the blue emblem look like that?"

Arisa's eyes went wide, and she paled. "Yeah. Yeah, I think it did. How did you know?"

Naomi recovered her phone, and passed it to Kay. "That is the emblem of the now out-of-commission Ōarai Girl's Academy."

"Isn't that the school Yukari transferred from? It's also a school I think never did Sensha-do, or if they did, it wasn't recently," insisted Arisa. "Is this some kind of a prank?"

Kay smiled. "Now this is getting interesting…."

* * *

Next: Part VIII: The Arsenal of Democracy

Author's Note: Oarai team members number 2 and 3! It took me a bit of planning to divide up the team members and justify it, and some of that isn't revealed for a while.


	8. The Arsenal of Democracy

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part VIII: The Arsenal of Democracy

by Civilis

* * *

"So, how was the trip?" asked Kay, as Yukari piled into the back of the jeep for the ride back to the airport.

"It was interesting," replied Yukari. "I think St. Gloriana is restoring a Cromwell."

"Save the intelligence report until we're back at school. I've got some questions to ask, but they should wait until we get everyone together."

The drive back to the airport was quiet. Once there, Naomi helped reload the jeep onto the C-47.

Once airborne, Yukari managed to ask, "What's with her?" gesturing towards Arisa's slumbering form strapped into the plane's radio operator seat.

"We went out for karaoke after dinner last night," said Naomi from the pilot's seat.

"We have got to teach Arisa how to have fun," added Kay.

Yukari herself was exhausted from the trip. Sleeping aboard the resupply ship was not restful, even after bribing the ships' crew for a little extra comfort, in this case a place to stretch out in one of the ship's lifeboats. She took advantage of the flight to catch some rest herself.

Once safely back aboard Saunders, Kay insisted on driving Yukari back to her dorm to take the rest of the evening off.

* * *

"All right, we're all here and awake," said Kay, gesturing to Naomi and Arisa seated and awake at the Tankery club room table. "Let's hear what you have for us from your trip!"

"I'll do better, I can show you some of it." Yukari walked over to the club room computer and inserted a data card into the computer, then turned the screen towards the three at the table.

"Akiyama Yukari's Espionage Mission to St. Gloriana," read Naomi from the screen. "You added credits?"

"This phone's awesome," she replied, holding it up. "I spent some time on the trip back piecing it all together."

After a few minutes spent on the ship and on showing Yukari in the St. Gloriana uniform, the three officers perked up when the sound of cannons could be heard from the video.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get decent shots of the Cromwell," Yukari apologized as the video reached her getting discovered in the hedge. "That's all for the Tankery stuff. The rest is just playing tourist."

"Who's your friend?" asked Kay, gesturing to footage of Hana during their walk back to the supply ship.

"Ah... that's Hana. She went to Ōarai. We were in... a club together. She's now at St. Gloriana, she's in their Flower Arrangement club. She comes from a big Ikebana family," Yukari explained.

"So you did find one of your friends!" said Kay, cheerfully. "This is one of those 'destiny' things! One mission accomplished!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Arisa. "I thought she was there to look for tanks, not find her friends."

"Yukari, pause the video," said Kay, suddenly serious. "You remember our conversation the other day about your former 'club' at Ōarai?"

"Yes," replied Yukari, nervously. She had thought that this was something Arisa wasn't supposed to be told about.

"The Ōarai Type 89, did it have any decorations beside the school insignia?" Naomi asked, suddenly.

Arisa turned from the video to look at her, then at Yukari.

"It had the gold chrysanthemum on the front, and it had a white duck on each side. All the tanks had an animal name. The Type 89 was Duck Team."

"You guys talked about this while I was asleep. This is a prank." Arisa's tone was angry, but she had gone pale as if afraid.

"Yukari, have either of us asked you about this, or asked anything else about Ōarai's tanks, before?" Naomi asked.

"No. You did ask me who we played."

"Ōarai didn't have a Tankery team. Ōarai has never had a Tankery team." Arisa raised her voice in anger, then stood up and walked over to the bookshelf. From a dusty corner, she pulled a notebook and quickly thumbed through it. "This is the intelligence manual from a decade ago, listing all the schools and their known tanks. There is no record of Ōarai having a Tankery team."

"What about 20 years ago?" asked Yukari.

Arisa looked through the shelf, and then went to a stack of records boxes in the corner. The bottom box was caked with dust, but on the side was a legible scrawl that this contained records from dates now between 18 and 23 years prior. She yanked off the top boxes, spilling one, then shoved the mess aside before delving into the bottom box. Rapidly searching the pile, she pulled out another notebook, yellowed with age, and flipped through the pages.

"Ōarai. Ōarai. There was an Ōarai team 21 years ago, and it had a Type 89, but this proves nothing," she said.

"We found eight tanks. A Panzer IVD, a Panzer 38(t), a M3 Lee, a Type 89 I-Go, a StuG IIIF, a Type 3 Chi-Nu, a Char B1 bis, and a Tiger I Porsche prototype," Yukari recited from memory.

As the list went on, Arisa's finger could be seen tracing over lines on the page, and her grip on the book weakened with each model named.

Naomi whistled. "A Porsche prototype Tiger? Wow, that's rare."

Arisa let the book fall. Her anger had died off, replaced with fear.

"There's a note in here that the school's Sensha-do Club was shutting down, and listing the tanks off as they were sold," she stammered. "Whoever was doing intelligence took careful notes of who bought what. Apparently, we bought a Sherman from them, but they wanted too much for the Lee, so we passed on it. There were eight tanks left unsold."

She laughed, nervously. "Well, seven, as apparently the Porsche Tiger was listed as 'missing' instead."

"Some pranksters had hidden the Tiger in the bowels of the ship. We had to disassemble it to get it out when we finally found it."

Arisa, still pale, walked over to Yukari and grabbed her tie. "What is going on here? What do you have to do with my dreams? Are you some kind of esper or something?"

"I think she's a time traveler, actually," Naomi deadpanned.

Arisa, still retaining her grip on Yukari's tie, glared at Kay and Naomi, still seated at the table. "Neither of you have had any strange dreams?"

"Nope," replied Kay, while Naomi just shook her head.

"Actually, Hana remembers Ōarai's Tankery team as well," Yukari informed the group. "She was our Panzer IV gunner. She fired the round that took out Arisa's tank." Arisa redirected her glare to the girl's image on the screen, and let go of the tie.

"Is she interested in transferring schools? If she's a friend of yours, she'd be welcome here," said Kay.

"She's confused, but I think she's happy where she is. I also ran into another former team member, but she didn't seem to remember me," Yukari replied. "Which brings up something else I've been thinking about. I was really the only one at Ōarai that truly wanted to do Tankery. Some of them decided to try because the student council pushed it really heavily, and a few were pressured into it. There was… a good friend, I found out later that she was… basically blackmailed into it. This time, I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen again. While I'm going to try to reconnect with my friends, and I hope they remember me, I'm not dragging them into it."

"I can accept that. I didn't realize that this was that complicated, and I'm sorry I've put pressure on you," said Kay. "They're your friends, you do what you think's best for them and I'll back you up."

"If you guys were supposedly good enough to win the Nationals, I'll be glad not to face you this time," added Naomi. "Even if it would be a fun challenge."

Arisa sat down. "All right, I'll take it that you guys are serious and this isn't some joke at my expense. Somehow I, you, and your friend have dreams of something..."

"We're calling it an 'other timeline'," supplied Kay, "as that sounds more science fictionish."

"… an 'other timeline', fine. I don't believe this any more than I believe in aliens. But if we can use this, I'll put up with it for now."

Arisa walked over to the computer. "Ok, I think I've calmed down now. Leaving all this weirdness aside, there is something odd about St. Gloriana in the video."

"The Cromwell?" asked Yukari.

"I knew they had at least two Cromwells," lectured Arisa. "We keep detailed records of known tanks of the schools we could be facing, and we knew that they used at least two in the past, though it's nice to have confirmation that they're working to refurbish at least one and that they've assigned their cruiser tank expert to the project. Of course, we always know what tanks have been used in the past in tournaments, and we can usually keep track of major purchases on the open market. However, sometimes schools manage to make purchases from private collectors or otherwise acquire them off the record, and those can be a nasty surprise."

She took the video back to the footage of St. Gloriana's tanks firing in practice. "What do you see?"

"Tanks firing?" said Naomi.

"This thing needs an enhance button. Look at the staff car," Arisa pointed at the screen.

"I see what looks like Darjeeling and another girl," said Kay. "They really take tea time seriously, don't they?"

"That's just Orange Pekoe," said Yukari, pointing at the orange haired smaller girl with the St. Gloriana commander.

"Who?" asked Naomi.

"She's Darjeeling's loader. The two used to drink tea while watching our Tankery matches," Yukari added.

"Which tank does Darjeeling use as her command tank?" asked Arisa, smugly. Being able to show off her intelligence analyst skills had allowed her to recover her composure.

"The Churchill VII," said Kay. "Why?"

"If the Churchill VII is firing over here," Arisa pointed to the tank in the tank line, "why is its loader sitting over there drinking tea? I could see Darjeeling not needing to be in the tank to practice gunnery, but someone needs to load the shells."

"Oh," said Kay. "They're training another Churchill VII loader."

"If they're training another loader, especially with the one they have being fairly new, I'd guess they're training another whole crew. Which means that they likely have another Churchill VII, even if not combat ready yet. Which also means that if we face them in the tournament, we might have two of the things to contend with. It pays to pay attention to the other members of the other team." Arisa pulled a notebook, the current intelligence file, from the desk and added a quick note.

She turned to Yukari. "What was your friends' name? Hana something-or-other?"

"Hana Izumi. Why?"

"It's good to know there's a tall, dark haired girl that has the potential to be at least a decent gunner at St. Gloriana. Not that anyone would believe how we got this intel." Arisa finished with the notebook and returned it to the drawer. "She may not be interested in Tankery, but Tankery may be interested in her."

* * *

The next day, Yukari found herself excused from gunnery practice and told to help Arisa with a little task.

"I may be crazy, but as long as I'm not the only one, I can put up with it. Since this seems to prove that you know your stuff about tanks, I'm going to use you." Arisa sounded as annoyed as usual, but didn't seem to be directing it at her. "You're coming with me to the garage."

While the deck-level garages were used to hold ready tanks for practice, Saunders's arsenal was big enough that most tanks were kept in a larger garage below decks. In the other timeline, Yukari had passed through it while looking for intel at Saunders. A quick ride downward on the massive elevator took them to the same garage full of Sherman tanks as before.

Arisa walked over to a small cluster of girls in mechanics overalls working on one of the tanks. "How goes the refit?" she asked the one standing around directing the team from notes on a clipboard.

"We'll have it ready for testing in about an hour," replied the lead mechanic.

"Just leave it parked on the elevator when it's ready. We'll be heading to the back room."

Arisa returned to Yukari. "Because Naomi and her Firefly will be sitting this practice match out, we're readying another M4A1 with a 76mm cannon. I'm sure the other schools know we have several of that model, so this won't reveal too much. Now, get your student ID ready and follow me."

Before she could ask, Arisa had walked off towards a pair of sliding doors big enough for tanks set in the bulkhead. Next to the door controls stood a bored looking member of Saunders' Student Discipline Committee, known at Saunders informally as the School Patrol. Like its counterpart at St. Gloriana, the Student Discipline Committee had customized its identifying armband, in this case with the large roman letters SP above the committee name. Arisa produced a paper, and the girl checked it, Arisa's student ID, Yukari's student ID and something on her phone. Once the check was completed, the girl produced a key, and used it to open a smaller, person-sized door set into one of the sliding doors, then permitted the pair to pass.

"Because of your little spy stunt, we now know that other schools might try the same thing to us," Arisa explained, "so we've bribed the Student Discipline Committee into putting extra security on the club. They'll be watching the clubhouse, the garages and this door. They'll also be watching the access way whenever a supply ship docks."

"What's in here?" Yukari could see little of the room, as only a small light above the door provided any illumination. Large shapes could vaguely be made out in the gloom.

"These are the tanks we don't use." Arisa pushed a switch on the wall, and the fluorescent lights suspended from the ceiling slowly began to light up. "You may commence squeeing at any time."

The sound that Yukari made as the room's contents became visible could indeed be described as a squee, as she checked out the tanks parked near the door. "Oh my god, that's a M3 Stuart! Is that a Sherman with Duplex Drive gear? Wow, I don't think I've ever seen a M6 Heavy Tank before!"

Arisa stood by the door as Yukari poked and prodded at the various parked tanks. "I don't know how useful those are going to be. The stuff we're interested is in the back."

"What was over here?" Yukari gestured to three small oil spots on an empty stretch of deck.

"We had three M-22 Locust light tanks. They've been… Lend-Leased out. Shall we continue?" Arisa replied, eager to change the subject. She had rented the tanks out to a Tankathalon illicit light-tank fight team in trade for some juicy intel.

Yukari followed Arisa towards the back, calling out the tank models as they passed. "M5 Stuarts… M3 Lees… or Grants. Some of them have the British turrets. It makes sense, if you're using a Firefly, I shouldn't be surprised you wouldn't be picky," she stopped, interested in the next row of tanks. "… is that a M10?"

"The team purchased a number of the different tank destroyers a while back when they were considering allowing open topped vehicles or allowing the post-war folding top as an acceptable safety modification. If the rules change, we'll be ready. You can see a couple of M-18s and M-36s if you look further down the row." Arisa stopped to let Yukari take a closer look.

Finally, they reached a row of tarp-covered shapes at the back of the room. "If you tell me you have Pershings or Chaffees I will hug you," said Yukari.

"I wish. The Professional and University teams buy those up as fast as they come on the market, and they can pay more than a high school can. I don't know what a couple of those would do against a high school team, but it wouldn't be pretty. Even Kuromorimine would have trouble taking those out," said Arisa, fortunately looking too closely at the tarp-covered tank to see Yukari's brief smile.

Arisa grabbed a corner of the tarp and pulled. "What we have is this."

Most people would have thought the tank revealed as the tarp fell away to be nothing more than another Sherman like the one the mechanic had been working on in the main garage, although one that still had a lot of damaged parts. Most people weren't Akiyama Yukari. She let out a long squee as she recognized the tank inside and proceeded to glomp the front fender. "Is this a Sherman Jumbo? It's even been upgraded to the 76mm cannon! And it's got the wider tracks! Why aren't we using this?"

"You can stop hugging the tank now," deadpanned Arisa.

"Are the rest of these also Jumbos?" demanded the girl hugging the tank.

"Most of them, yes."

"Most of them?" If anything, Yukari smiled even wider. "Is there an Easy Eight?"

"Yes," and would have said more, but Yukari had grabbed onto her in a hug.

When she had calmed down and let go, Arisa finally finished her sentence. "…we got these years ago from a college team that switched to German tanks. They were supposed to go overseas, but we managed to sneak in a high bid at the last minute. I think the deal was completely off the record. However, the seller didn't tell us that the tanks hadn't been repaired after their last, losing engagement, which may have been why they were so cheap."

"Can we fix them? I mean, we should have the parts."

"We tried to see if we could get this one ready last year at the last minute as a possible surprise for our match against St. Gloriana, but we didn't get it to where it could be usable. It runs, barely, but it needs a lot of work to make it battle ready, and it's the best of the lot," Arisa explained. "The general consensus is, or was, that it's not worth fixing them up unless it's to use as a surprise against Kuromorimine. They're a little too slow to keep up with our formations. However, with this year's tournament, Kay suggested looking at putting some of these into our lineup, and given your… unique point of view, she wanted to get your thoughts. Besides, it's worth it to watch you obsess over seeing all the tanks."

"If I find out this stupid 'other timeline' dream thingy is your fault, I will hunt you down and hurt you, Yukari," Arisa continued, smiling warmly despite the threat, "…but since I'm going crazy, and you're crazy, and this may be the best chance I have of winning the National Championship, we're going to need to work together. And if that means indulging your tank otaku whims, I'll put up with it as long as most of the really crazy stuff stays on you. So… friends?" She stuck out her hand.

"Coming from you, I'll take what I can get," replied Yukari, as she grabbed Arisa's hand. "Friends."

* * *

Next: Part IX: Where We Began

Author's Note: I wanted to shake up the tank listings a bit, but I didn't want to go overboard, and I wanted to justify why we don't see those tanks in the series. Also, Yukari's amazing camera phone makes an appearance.


	9. Where We Began

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part IX: Where We Began

by Civilis

* * *

The radio report had come in to Kay about an hour before the scheduled start time, as she stood next to the Sherman that would be her tank for the upcoming practice match. "I count... Four Matilda IIs and one Churchill," came the staticy voice over the radio, "followed by five Crusaders. They're descending to ground level now, and should be at the field in about 20 to 30 minutes, given the traffic."

"Exactly as we expected," said Kay to the impromptu command team. Since this was a friendly practice match, neither side was hiding their forces as they might during the tournament. Still, there was always the chance that Darjeeling would want to field test something new, so a couple of team members that were not going to participate in the match had been posted to watch St. Gloriana and report when the tanks were on their way. It wasn't exactly spying, not with the students standing on a public walkway in Ōarai in plain view. For that matter, a couple of spectators in St. Gloriana's blue school uniforms were already sitting in the stands nearby, watching Saunders prepare its tanks for the match. At least one of them had a cell phone out and was obviously photographing the team.

They weren't the only ones in the stands, not by a long shot. Ōarai, though registered as a Sensha-do field, hadn't seen a match in years, and that was a one-off due to severe storms in Hokkaido causing a Pravda match to be moved at the last minute. However, the locals hadn't forgotten what it was like, and so tank fans and curious families alike had come out to watch the spectacle.

There were a couple of others in the crowd, of course. A few girls with practiced bearing and short, practical haircuts wearing what were probably intended to be nondescript clothes, which ended up making them stand out as much as if they were wearing trench coats and fedoras, kept a keen eye on the field. Many of them also had cameras. Most of them were likely from colleges, scouting out potential recruits. A couple, however, would be from rival schools, checking out two of the more seasoned High School Sensha-do teams.

Also in the stands, and taking no steps to hide her presence, was Naomi. She had accepted sitting this battle out with some grace, and was presently perched in the stands with a soda and hotdog ready to study St. Gloriana's tactics from outside the battle.

"All right, everyone have your maps?" called Arisa. She had distributed the annotated maps at the previous evenings' team meeting, combining Yukari's knowledge of Ōarai and her own sleepy reconnaissance of the town with planned landmarks for the battle. When the tank commanders all confirmed having their maps, she continued. "Everyone know your radio call sign?"

Kay had decided to use baseball terms to identify the landmarks and tanks in the battle. Her tank, with Yukari as loader, would be Shortstop. The pair of Shermans with 76mm cannons, the heavy hitters, were Pitcher 1 and Pitcher 2, with Arisa as second in command from Pitcher 1. The remaining regular Shermans were divided into two three-tank sections, Infielder 1 through 3 and Outfielder 1 through 3. The final tank, Catcher, would be the rear guard and reserve.

Likewise, Kay had assigned the St. Gloriana tanks reporting names. The fast Crusaders were Runners, the Matildas were Batters, and if it split off from the other infantry tanks, the Churchill would be referred to as Slugger. Truthfully, they could have just used the British names for the tanks, but Kay had reasoned if you were going to use the baseball metaphor, you may as well go all out.

"Everyone ready for Operation Line Drive?" asked Kay. The cheers from the assembled Saunders tankers provided enough of an answer.

The ten St. Gloriana tanks pulled in from the highway to the opposite side of the field that served as the staging area for the battle, followed by their associated maintenance and recovery teams.

Kay called her other tank commanders to her side, and together they headed to the middle of the field. Shortly thereafter they were met by the Sensha-Do League judges as well as Darjeeling and their St. Gloriana counterparts, the resplendent red coats of their field uniforms standing out in contrast to Saunders' dull olive drab.

"Hey, Darj! Thanks for the match!" called Kay.

"It's always a pleasure, Kay," replied Darjeeling. The two shook hands politely.

The lead judge called out "The match between Saunders University High School and St. Gloriana Girls College will now begin. Everyone, bow!" All participants, both the tank commanders performing the traditional pre-match greeting in the center of the field and the other crew and staff waiting at the sides bowed towards the other team.

* * *

On a hillside, Kay and Yukari sat watching the movement on the dirty field below. "I count... Four Matilda IIs and one Churchill advancing," said Yukari. "Wedge formation... nice station keeping."

"St. Gloriana's always been good at that fancy formation driving, probably so they don't spill their tea," replied Kay, excitedly. "Any sign of the others?"

"Not yet, but you kept saying you were most concerned about the infantry tanks. We're going to have a hard time penetrating their main armor, even with AP rounds. Especially the Churchill," Yukari said, with a theatrical shudder. "That one's a monster."

"It's not invincible. That's where tactics and skill come in. All right, enough spectating. Let's get this show on the road!" Kay stood up, brushed her blonde hair away from her eyes, and extended a hand to her companion to help her up.

"Thanks, Kay" said Yukari. The pair clambered onto and into the Sherman hidden just over the ridge from their observation point. Yukari eased shut the loader's hatch behind her.

Kay was already on the radio as she dropped into the commander's cupola of her Sherman. "All right, everyone, move out. Remember to keep the engine noise and dust low." The engine of the Saunders M4 Sherman roared to life, followed shortly thereafter by nine more like it. With practiced ease, all ten tanks turned and began advancing away from their opposition, forming a column of olive drab armor. The command tank quickly passed the rest of the vehicles in the column and took position at the head of the line.

Kay opened up on the radio. "This is Shortstop to all Baseball elements. We've confirmed the location of the enemy Batters. The Runners are unaccounted for, so keep an eye out for Crusader tanks. Shortstop will advance to the mound. The rest of you, signal when you are in position. Operation Line Drive begins now!" One by one, the trailing Sherman tanks peeled off the formation and headed for their positions.

A burst of static heralded Arisa's voice on the radio, sounding much more annoyed than Kay's friendly and energetic instructions. "Outfielder 3, read your map. You're on the right!"

Immediately, one of the Shermans changed course. The radio crackled to life again, "Uh, Outfielder 3, correcting, sorry, Arisa."

Kay ducked into the tank and then turned to Yukari. "This is officially your first engagement, Yukari. You ready for this?"

Yukari gave her commander a thumbs up. "I think I am." She adjusted her gloves, and made ready to grab a shell.

The blonde commander turned towards her gunner with a cocky grin. "Ok, we ready to spill someone's tea?"

* * *

The first 75mm shot from the Sherman landed short of the beige St. Gloriana Matilda, throwing up a cloud of dirt. Almost immediately, the British tanks began turning towards the source of the fire, while still maintaining their wedge formation. Before they could bring their turrets to bear to fire back, a second shot from the American tank slammed into the flank Matilda, unfortunately not doing more than leaving a scrape on the armor.

The lone M4 reversed and backed out of the hull down position it had taken overlooking the enemy formation and quickly turned and accelerated away moments before the first round of return fire impacted its position. From the cupola, Kay waved at the pursuing British tanks rounding the hill and bringing their guns to bear even as she triggered her radio to her crew. "Keep on an evasive course until we reach First Base," she instructed her driver. "While those aren't the heaviest guns, a direct hit would slow us down for the kill if it didn't finish us off." As if on cue, the first shell from the five pursuing British tanks landed nearby.

She switched her radio to the 'All Saunders' channel, and practically screamed into the microphone "All right, everyone, the fun starts now!" as another round from the pursuing St. Gloriana tanks whizzed past her head.

The dirty valley the Sherman was driving along rapidly began to narrow into a canyon as it began to approach the spot marked on the map as First Base. It was an obvious spot for an ambush, which is why both Ōarai and Saunders set up their ambush there. Like the Ōarai tanks, Pitcher One and Two had taken position on the raised slope at the end of what was now a canyon, and waited to rain down fire on St. Gloriana's infantry tanks.

If it was an obvious ambush point, St. Gloriana would recognize this, and could not risk blindly charging in against the experienced Saunders team like they did in the other timeline against the inexperienced Ōarai. However, with support they could catch any tanks on the rise in a pincer maneuver. Which was why Arisa had placed the two three-tank teams above on the ridge, Infielder team on the left flank and Outfielder team on the right flank, waiting to ambush St. Gloriana's Crusaders before they could blindside Pitcher team. However, in Sensha-Do, as in war, plans do not often survive first contact with the enemy.

St. Gloriana's tanks were almost in range of the ambush when Kay's radio barked to life. "This is Catcher! Five enemy Crusa... five Runners, approaching my position! Can I fire?" Catcher had been placed in back of First Base, to be able to respond to either side if the need arose, but it also was the only tank between threats coming from Ōarai city and the backs of the crucial Pitcher tanks.

"Yes! Fire! Fire!" Arisa yelled back. "Outfielders, withdraw to cover Catcher! Infielders, get up on the ridge and see if you can hit the Batters. Pitcher 2, fire when ready, but prepare to withdraw if you take fire."

"This is Shortstop. I'll retreat back past First Base and join Catcher," added Kay calmly as the tank swerved again while shots from the pursuing Matildas and Churchill flew past. Shortly, the 76mm cannon of the two Pitchers joined the noise, firing overhead at the advancing St. Gloriana Infantry tanks. Shortstop quickly pulled out of the line of fire and started its way up the ramp to cover the rear of the two heavier armed Sherman tanks.

"This is Catcher. We got knocked out! Crusaders headed your way!" came the call over the radio.

"This is Outfielder 1. Outfielder team on the way. It'll be a minute."

Shortstop reached the top of the ramp behind the two Pitcher tanks just as the first Crusader appeared over the ridge behind the two. Shortstop jerked to a halt, and Kay's gunner quickly fired, knocking out the tank. Yukari rapidly loaded another shell.

"This is Infielder 1. I can't depress the guns enough from the ridge to hit the Batters."

"This is Outfielder 2. Outfielder 1 threw a track. It's not as easy to get to you as it looked on the map."

"All tanks, this is Shortstop. Withdraw to Second Base," ordered Kay calmly.

"Pitcher 1, I copy. Pitcher 2 follow us through the Runners. Try to take one out as you pass through," added Arisa.

"I have a shot on a Batter!" called Pitcher 2's commander.

"Withdraw! That's an order," came Arisa's angry command.

"Pitcher 2 firing!" came the reply. "Missed!"

There was the distinctive sound of the impact of an incoming shell on armor. Smoke issued from Pitcher 2's hull, and a white flag appeared.

"When we say withdraw, withdraw!" yelled Arisa.

Kay's gunner looked at her. "I haven't seen another Cru... Runner."

"They may have spotted Outfielder team," Yukari guessed. Shortly thereafter, the guess was borne out as Outfielder Team's two operational tanks appeared on the ridge above. With the escort following along, Shortstop led Pitcher 1 on a strategic withdrawal down the other narrow canyon which led away from the First Base position towards the city of Ōarai, taking advantage of the time the slower St. Gloriana infantry tanks would need to climb the rise to their position.

"Everyone, keep an eye out for the Runners," called Arisa, as the group of tanks made their way towards the protection of Ōarai. "They're not going to be able to last in a stand up fight against us, but they can do damage with hit and run attacks."

Kay and Yukari both pushed their heads out the top hatches, and began scanning the surrounding terrain ahead of their route. Behind them, the turret of Pitcher 1 was pointed to the tank's rear to provide cover, and Arisa and her loader could likewise be seen watching the area around them.

Soon enough, the narrow canyon had risen to meet the ground around it, and the two command tanks linked up with the operational tanks of Outfielder Team. A few moments later, the dirt gave way to the firm pavement of the highway leading to Ōarai.

"What's your position, Infielder Team?" radioed Kay.

"This is Infielder 1. We're almost at the highway," came the reply.

Yukari looked up the road with her binoculars. She could just make out the commanders of the three olive-drab tanks in the hatches. However, they were all looking ahead of the column as it advanced. Behind them, from behind a cluster of houses, came four squat blue-gray shapes. "I see Infielder Team… and the Cru… Runners! Behind them!" Yukari yelled.

Kay screamed into the radio, "Infielders! Runners at your six! Everyone else, keep on to Second Base!"

She cut the radio transmission and explained to her crew. "We can't get there in time to make a difference, and it's the wrong direction from the city. Even if we did save them, by the time we get back here, the Batters will be right on us with their heavy armor and we'll have no cover."

Yukari could only watch as the battle continued in the distance. The more powerful Shermans should have had the edge in a straight fight, but this wasn't a straight fight. Infielder Team evaded immediately on hearing the radio report, which caused the initial shots from the Crusaders to miss, but the St. Gloriana tanks corrected their aim before the Saunders tanks could bring their turrets to bear. The first Infielder Team Sherman was knocked out by multiple hits to its vulnerable rear armor.

"Odd… Infielder 2 isn't bringing its turret around," commented Kay. Yukari could barely make out the commander of one of the tanks shouting orders below as the Crusaders closed for the kill on the two survivors. Suddenly, it stopped and reversed just as two of the enemy tanks fired, causing their shots to hit the heavier side armor. As the Sherman backed through the charging Crusaders, the purpose behind leaving its turret facing forward became clear, and it fired just as a Crusader roared past, sending the enemy tank skidding in a cloud of smoke before the white flag popped up.

The second Crusader that had been after Infielder 2 swerved around to avoid the same fate, but in the process lost awareness of the position of the other Sherman, which had both continued forward and had kept turning its turret around to face behind it. While the Crusader's shot bounced ineffectually off of the front of Infielder 2, it took a knockout hit of its own.

The victories, however were short lived. Yukari watched as another Crusader, with Rosehip herself leaning out of the hatch, pulled in between the two knocked out Crusaders, and fired point blank into the rear of the Infielder Team tank still moving forward. The Sherman emitted a cloud of smoke from its engine compartment and stopped abruptly. The rose-haired Crusader expert flinched as Infielder 2 fired at her, but the shot hit the already-disabled Crusader her tank was using as a shield.

Meanwhile, the other Crusader had pulled behind the reversing Infielder 2, and likewise repeated the shot into the Sherman's vitals. Yukari could see the Saunders commander slump in defeat in the turret cupola as the white flag popped up next to her.

"Ok, we're down five tanks to seven, but we're not out of the game yet," said Kay over the radio, as she watched the two Crusaders disappear in a cloud of dust and smoke.

"We're down five tanks to six," replied Arisa's voice. "I got one of the Mati… the Batters in the initial fight. Things could be worse…"

An unfamiliar voice came over the radio. "This is the judging team. We have ruled the disabled Sherman's track as unrepairable. It is ruled as being eliminated from the match."

"Dammit, me and my big mouth," said Arisa.

"That just makes the rest of the match that much more dramatic!" said Kay, as the four remaining Saunders tanks, Shortstop, Pitcher 1, Outfielder 2, and Outfielder 3, advanced towards the city of Ōarai itself.

* * *

Next: Part X: Squeeze Play

Author's Note: Again, make the story interesting, make the battle real, provide at least one story or character point, and tell as much as possible from Yukari's POV. I kept the first real match against St. Gloriana to highlight the similarities and differences between this story and the series. And because Saunders has 10 tanks, Rosehip gets to show up!


	10. Squeeze Play

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part X: Squeeze Play

by Civilis

* * *

"Welcome to the town of Ōarai", announced Kay, as the Saunders formation passed the first building on the outskirts of the city on their strategic advance to the point known as Second Base. "When we get to the waypoint, I want Pitcher 1 facing down the highway, flank to the wall. I want both Outfielders on the other flank. Shortstop will be behind the Pitcher, facing the other direction. Pitcher, engage the Batters at your discretion. Given the armor, Slugger is not a priority unless you're sure you have a good chance to kill. Outfielders, our goal is to kill the remaining Runners. They'll probably appear about the time the Batters start opening fire. Everyone, keep an eye out on all sides."

"Outfielder 3. What should we do if things go wrong?"

"If the Batters start getting into killing range, or we lose tanks to Slugger or the Runners, withdraw as soon as possible. If the Runners come from the flank, withdraw to Home Plate. If they come from the rear, withdraw to Third Base."

"If things go to hell," added Arisa from Pitcher 1, "play hide and seek in the back streets. Remember, Slugger is only really vulnerable from behind."

The four tanks reached the intersection that would serve as the next battlefield. Pitcher 1 turned around and edged up to the corner of a building, giving it a good line of sight for its 76mm cannon down the highway. The other three tanks positioned themselves to cover the heavier armed tank. Tank commanders and loaders unbuttoned their hatches to join Kay and Yukari in watching the surrounding streets.

After a few minutes of waiting, Yukari felt things were calm enough to ask a question. "Kay, what's up with them disqualifying Outfielder 1 for a busted track? We lost tracks all the time."

"In Annihilation matches, the judges are allowed to rule that an inoperable tank that has no chance of being repaired in the field is out of the battle. It comes from some of the early matches where half the tanks would throw a track or have their weapons knocked out and you'd have two sides with no way of getting to each other to end the battle. That's why we carry spare tracks and teach people to repair them in the field, but it's not always possible," Kay explained.

"So, I guess Outfielder 1 just had bad luck to really wreck their track."

Kay would have continued, but Arisa's yell from behind got their attention. "I see dust coming down the road. Looks like they're finally ready to face us." Next to her, Pitcher 1's loader dropped into the turret to prepare to fight.

"Everyone else, keep an eye out!" called Kay. "They'll try to hit us from two sides at once!"

Yukari's ears picked up the sound of engines from the opposite direction of the advancing dust. Her call of "I hear something from the rear!" was drowned out by the roar of the 76mm cannon on Pitcher 1 firing.

"Runners spotted!" called Kay, pointing to a glimpse of a Crusader briefly visible in the space between buildings several blocks down. "Everyone ready!"

Yukari dropped into the turret and picked up a shell.

"This is Arisa," came Pitcher 1's voice over the radio. "One Batter down, but the others are using houses for cover as they advance. No sign of Slugger. Batters are almost in…"

Anything further was lost in the shock of Shortstop's cannon firing. With practiced ease, Yukari reloaded and signaled to the gunner. Another shock.

"Got one Runner!" called Kay. Yukari loaded another shell and signaled.

Another shock, followed by a second. It took Yukari a moment to recognize the second as the sound of a shell bouncing off their armor. She reloaded, but the gunner didn't fire.

"This is Shortstop! Withdraw to Third Base!" came the order from above.

Yukari pulled herself up and out of the hatch. Nearby on the street was another Crusader, smoking, with a white flag. Unfortunately, one of the Outfielder Team tanks also had a protruding white flag. As Shortstop pulled away, the commander of the knocked out tank saluted from the cupola.

"Outfielder 3, you're rearguard. Pitcher 1, take the middle," ordered Kay as the tank turned onto a meandering side street.

Yukari watched behind them as the two other Shermans backed out of their position and turned to follow. Outfielder 3 had its turret trained to cover the rear, its commander watching for anything behind them.

She was just breathing a sigh of relief when Kay cried out next to her "Abort! Scramble!" The Sherman lurched left as a shell flew closely past from ahead, impacting on a nearby building.

Turning around, Yukari caught a glimpse of the Churchill VII parked in the middle of the street ahead, just visible around one of the turns in the road. Darjeeling was sitting out of the hatch, teacup in hand, calmly smiling as her crew sprung their trap. Kay waved to her, as Shortstop quickly turned onto a narrower side street, practically an alley, avoiding the next shell from the Churchill.

Yukari tried to keep her eye on the Churchill, but it was quickly out of sight behind a building. She did have a chance to watch Pitcher 1 turn away from the ambush in the opposite direction, heading away into the maze of alleys. Outfielder 3 was not so lucky. Caught between the advancing Matildas and the Churchill, it took several direct hits in rapid succession.

"We have your tank and my 76," said Arisa over the radio. "They have one Crusader, probably the redheads, two Matildas, and Darjeeling's Churchill. I guess it's down to hide and seek."

Kay looked over her shoulder. "It looks like two Batters are pursuing us. That means that Slugger is likely trying to track you down, and the Runner is going to try a squeeze play with one of us."

At the same time, Yukari studied the familiar street. She tapped Kay on the shoulder. "After the next bend, there will be a hotel in front of us and a left turn. Take the turn slow, then wait around the corner, gun pointed in front of the hotel." She dropped into the tank and readied a shell.

Dropping into the tank, Kay passed on the instruction to the crew, who nodded. With a wider turning radius than the Panzer IV, the Sherman only made the turn thanks to the warning, as the gunner readied the cannon.

Although the Matildas were forewarned by seeing the Sherman slow, the warning meant that instead of sending them into the hotel, the turn put them right in front of Shortstop's cannon. The first shot hit the lead Matilda just as it stopped. At this range, the Saunders gunner had no problem hitting the armor with enough force to knock out the tank. Yukari slammed another round into the cannon as the second Matilda hit the turn and ran into the first Matilda, knocking off the St. Gloriana gunners' aim and causing her shot to mar the Sherman's flank instead of penetrating the vulnerable rear armor. Shortstop fired again, sending the second Matilda out of the match.

"Both Batters down. One Slugger, one Runner left," radioed Kay as they drove away from the wreckage.

"This is Ar… Pitcher 1. No sign of Blondie or the redhead," came the reply.

The tank shook as a shot glanced off their front turret armor. "I found the Runner!" said Kay. "It looks like she wants to play tag!"

"I'll be on my way… if I can figure out where you or I am," groaned Arisa.

Shortstop lurched after the fleeing Crusader, which zigzagged along even though the Sherman wasn't firing, preferring not to waste ammo on such a difficult and evasive target. "You know, they're leading us into a trap, right?" warned Kay's gunner.

"We have to find them somehow," replied Kay. "As long as we know it's a trap we can prepare."

Yukari spotted something in the tank. "Kay, do you remember the trick with the smoke markers I told you about?"

"Yeah. Why? Do you have an idea?"

"Was that legal?" Yukari asked.

"It's fully legal to use normal period equipment which might be carried in the field, or modern equivalents authorized by the Sensha-do Federation, as long as they're not used as weapons and don't endanger any participants or spectators. We carry binoculars, for example."

Yukari grabbed something from the safety equipment holder next to the emergency smoke markers. Kay's eyes widened in surprise, but she smiled and nodded, then got on the radio. "Pitcher 1, Shortstop here. Keep an eye out for the ball and you'll know where we are."

Yukari pulled herself up into the hatch, clutching the item. Rosehip's Crusader was visible ahead, but it was buttoned up given the attention it was getting from a charging Sherman, meaning they might not see what she was about to do. Yukari took the emergency flare gun and fired it above the tank, where the flare burst in midair.

"There's an open area ahead, a likely spot for a fight," said Kay, "Yukari, get below and prepare to load. Gunner, priority is the Runner. Given the area ahead, they'll likely expect us to break off to the left. Driver, feint left as soon as we enter the intersection, then head back and hug the right wall so they'll be on our left. Once we pass the Runner, circle around and try to get behind the Slugger. Keep moving."

The radio crackled to life. "Arisa here, I see your location. On my way."

Shortstop roared into the intersection. Ahead and to the left was an outlet mall, with a massive parking lot empty save for the Churchill, waiting for its' prey. Straight ahead the road continued on, with the Crusader swerving into a turn to charge back. Ahead and to the right was a solid noise wall. Surrounding this on the other sides were the apartments and houses of Ōarai proper.

The Crusader jerked around and charged the Sherman, gun pointed to the left from the perspective of the crew on Shortstop, expecting the Sherman to try to break into one of the side streets to the left to avoid the ambush. The feint took Rosehip by surprise, however the Sherman's shot missed the speeding tank as well. A shot from the Churchill landed behind the Sherman as it sped along the wall.

"Gunner, we're going to play chicken with the Runner again," said Kay, dropping into the turret as the Sherman made a wide turn around the Churchill. "Target front."

Rosehip's Crusader was almost at the Churchill when the comparatively lumbering Sherman swung into view ahead of it. Both tanks fired, the Crusader's 6pdr glancing off the front plate of the Sherman, while the 75mm round from Shortstop hit the Crusader square on, sending the last cruiser tank into the shops and out of the battle.

"This is Arisa! I'm almost there, but there's a wall in the way!" came the cry from the radio.

"Where's the Slugger?" asked Kay. "Anyone have eyes on Slugger?" They'd been so focused on the Crusader they'd lost track of where they were relative to the heavy Churchill.

The Sherman shook from a near miss from the last St. Gloriana tank. "Keep circling! Don't stop!" called Kay as she went for the cupola again. "Slugger is at our ten!" The gunner frantically worked the turret to get a line of fire on the Churchill as the tanks circled.

"The wall's too thick to drive through!" radioed Arisa, frantically trying to aid her commander.

The tank shuddered again from a near miss, and something mechanical groaned menacingly. The driver called back, "That was too close! One of the tracks is damaged!" The tank lurched sickeningly along the storefronts. One of the windows nearby exploded from one of the Churchill's shots.

Yukari called to Kay, "Tell Arisa to stand on top of her tank, quick!"

"Arisa! Stand on top of the tank! Get your gunner ready!" radioed Kay, reading Yukari's mind.

Another window ahead of the Sherman exploded as the tank slowed down.

"All right, when we stop, shoot this round at anything, and then aim the next shot at the wall below where you see Arisa." Yukari told the gunner, who nodded. Yukari grabbed a High Explosive round.

"I see you!" radioed Arisa, as Shortstop shuddered to a halt. Kay dropped into the turret and braced herself.

The Sherman fired into the pavement. Yukari rammed the HE round home, and the tank fired again.

There was a massive impact from the side of the tank, and its systems, save for the radio, powered down.

Moments later, the sound of Pitcher 1's 76mm cannon firing could be heard. There was no further cannon fire, only the faint sound of a small white flag popping up.

The radio crackled to life. "All St. Gloriana tanks are inoperable. The match is over. Saunders wins."

* * *

"Well, it came down to extra innings, but a win is a win," said Kay, as she watched as the tank transporter carried Shortstop out of the staging area for the trip back to the docks and Saunders.

"Would you quit with the Baseball metaphors already?" groused Arisa. Or, rather, Arisa tried to grouse. She had gotten the winning shot, had got to ride back to the staging area with her tank without having to wait for a recovery team, and had even gotten to eat lunch without having any of it stolen, so she could only pretend to be in a rotten mood.

"Here comes Darjeeling and company." Naomi, who had joined the team on the field after the match, gestured to the group in red coats making their way over to the Saunders food concession area. "I see Rosehip, so you might want to make yourself scarce, Yukari."

"I need to go to the restroom anyways," said Yukari, "I'll meet back up with you on the bus." She headed off into the crowd.

"Congratulations, Kay," said Darjeeling, when the St. Gloriana group finally reached the Saunders officers. "I felt for sure we'd be able to finish you off before your other tank could arrive. Knocking a hole in the wall with your last shot was an unexpected but clever trick."

"You really kept us on our toes," replied Kay. "There were several times you had us completely outmaneuvered."

"Still, you were able to make better use of the urban areas than we were. It was a worthy match. Although I am a bit disappointed you seem to have picked up Arisa's tricky habits. At least that flare gun was unquestionably legal."

Naomi quietly stepped on Arisa's foot to prevent her from saying anything.

Kay extended her hand again. "I hope you and your tanks all had fun."

Darjeeling shook the proffered hand. "I look forward to our next match. Hopefully, this year it will be in the Finals."

The team officers exchanged friendly handshakes, and left for their respective buses.

* * *

On the way out of the women's restroom, Yukari collided with a figure in St. Gloriana red.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going," apologized Yukari.

"No, I wasn't paying attention either," said the other girl.

The two managed to get around each other. Yukari made her way to the Saunders bus.

It wasn't until she was on her way out of the restroom some minutes later that Rosehip's driver realized that she'd seen that distinctive fluffy hair a few days before.

* * *

Next: Part XI: Tea and Flowers

Author's Note: The rules of Sensha-Do are never fully explained. When I pull something questionable, I try to have the characters justify it in a way that makes sense to me and doesn't clash with the original story.


	11. Tea and Flowers

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XI: Tea and Flowers

by Civilis

* * *

"Is there a problem, Darjeeling-dono?" asked Koyama 'Yuzu' Yuzuko, president of the St. Gloriana Flower Arrangement Society, as respectfully as possible. It was respectful because of the immense popularity of the St. Gloriana Sensha-Do Club's Team Commander and because it's hard to be disrespectful to someone that has a 75mm cannon pointed at the door of your clubhouse.

"What makes you think there's a problem?" asked Darjeeling in a dangerously calm tone of voice.

Needless to say, this kind of drama was not normal for St. Gloriana. Bystanders had gathered quickly once news had spread that Darjeeling and her crew had suited up that morning in their team uniforms and had driven in the massive Churchill to the front door of the relatively unimportant Flower Arrangement Society's clubhouse.

Several riders from the Riding Club stood nearby with their horses, grips maintained in the unlikely event that the tank actually would discharge its cannon into the building. One of the rugby team members had a camera, and the other team members were posing for pictures in front of the war machine. Two rather harried looking Discipline Committee members served as traffic wardens, directing the occasional vehicle around the tank and the relatively small armored car parked behind it. Traffic seemed oddly heavy, and it turned out that vehicles were specifically choosing to detour onto the back road specifically to see what the commotion was about.

* * *

The drama had begun that morning at the Sensha-Do Club's clubhouse, a building very similar in outer appearance to that of the Flower Arrangement club. Inside, however, the room was furnished in a comfortable yet antique style appropriate for the building's English appearance.

In comfortable armchairs, Darjeeling sat with her loader and assistant, Orange Pekoe, drinking their morning tea while her other assistant and gunner, Assam, reviewed the intelligence reports from their loss to Saunders the previous day on her laptop.

A loud knock at the door had announced the beginning of the morning's events.

"Come in!" called Pekoe.

The door was roughly thrown open by Rosehip, deputy commander responsible for St. Gloriana's lighter cruiser tanks. "Assam! Do you have the pictures taken yesterday of Saunders' tank crews?" the girl called, as she barged into the room.

The intelligence expert looked up from her laptop. "I do. Why do you ask?"

"Can this wait until the review meeting tomorrow?" asked Darjeeling.

Rosehip ignored her. "I think Saunders pulled another sneaky trick. Can you pull them up? We're looking for a girl with 'fluffy hair'."

Assam looked to her commander, who nodded, then she pulled up the pictures taken the previous day.

A few minutes of scrolling through the pictures later, Rosehip grabbed the mouse from a startled Assam, and enlarged a photo of the Saunders command team conferring before the match. "There! That's her! Bloody hell, she's standing with Kay and Arisa!"

Assam took back her mouse. "We have better photos of most of the tankers for reference purposes." She quickly brought up the photo collection, and picked out a better photo that clearly showed the girl. "We don't have a name for her yet, but we think she's Kay's new loader. She wasn't in any of the photos last year." A few clicks later, the laser printer neatly hidden behind a screen in the corner of the clubroom whirred to life.

Pekoe retrieved the printout and handed it to Darjeeling, who nodded. "I think I saw her with Kay when we ambushed their command tank in the city. What's this about another sneaky trick?"

"I didn't see her during the match, but my driver ran into her afterwards. The thing is, several days ago, we ran into her, wearing our school uniform, in the Flower Arrangement club's garden adjoining the gunnery range during practice. She looked to be suspicious, but she claimed to be a club member. What makes no sense is that the club vouched for her," Rosehip fumed, pacing.

"Wasn't there some kind of incident with the Flower Arrangement club a couple of weeks ago?" asked Pekoe, setting down a cup of tea on the table closest to Rosehip.

"Yeah, we found one of their students asleep in that flower garden," said Rosehip. She thought for a moment, and the others could see recognition dawning, and her jaw fell open. "In fact, the same girl I found asleep in the garden is the one that vouched for our spy at the club. She was tall, with long black hair."

With practiced grace, Pekoe calmly slid the ignored teacup away from Rosehip before she could knock it over as she smacked the table with her hand.

"Well, then," said Darjeeling, setting down her own tea, "I think this warrants paying a visit to the Flower Arrangement club. Are our tanks repaired, Pekoe?"

"The Churchill is fixed. The others are still undergoing repair."

"Rosehip, once we get changed, I want you to take one of the Dingos from the motor pool and meet us in front of the garages," ordered Darjeeling calmly. "We're going to get to the bottom of this."

* * *

Shortly thereafter the procession found its way to the Flower Arrangement Club clubhouse and parked out front. Darjeeling climbed down from the tank and was making her way to the front door when the door opened from inside and the club president stepped out to find out what the commotion was.

Yuzu was about to ask when the tank parked in front of the clubhouse turned its turret to point at her, which caused her to stop abruptly. Seeing no sign of immediate hostility from Darjeeling herself, Yuzu stepped over to the commander and saw that the gun remained trained on the door.

"Are you with the Flower Arrangement Society?" asked Darjeeling, smiling calmly in a way that could not be described as friendly.

"Ah... yes, I am Koyama Yuzuko, the society president," Yuzu stammered. She found the situation so unusual she couldn't form a question without thinking about the tank parked ominously nearby.

"Pekoe, the picture," Darjeeling asked. The orange haired loader climbed down from the tank and handed the printout to Yuzu. "Do you recognize this girl?" the commander asked.

"Ah, yes, she's an old friend of Hana's. She was visiting the other day."

"Would Hana be a tall girl with long black hair?" came the question.

"Yes." Several onlookers had stopped to watch. Still, the calm yet serious nature of the two Sensha-Do club members made it somehow feel wrong to Yuzu to disturb them with a question about the tank.

"Would this be Isuzu Hana, of the Isuzu family of Ikebana practitioners?" asked Darjeeling, again.

"Yes, that's her," replied Yuzu. "She and I were at Ōarai last year, and I believe she mentioned that Yukari was a student there as well."

"That's very interesting," replied Darjeeling, as Pekoe's large eyebrows arched upwards in interest at the name of the town where they had just fought. "So her name is Yukari?"

"Yes, Akiyama Yukari, I think. I didn't know her personally." Yuzu saw a member of the Student Discipline Committee approaching to ask about the traffic problem the tank seemed to be causing, but she stopped and backed away after looking at the Sensha-do team members.

"Did she ask anything about tanks?" asked Darjeeling.

"No. But a couple of weeks back, Hana asked me some questions about tanks out of the blue." Any further thought Yuzu had of asking questions was driven away as the smaller, orange haired girl pulled a pair of tight black gloves from the pockets of her red coat and theatrically pulled them on before flexing her hands in a manner which somehow registered as menacing.

"Is Hana here?" asked Darjeeling, seemingly oblivious to the tension building up around the small group.

"She's not in yet," replied Yuzu.

"We can wait." Darjeeling looked around, seemingly just now noticing the crowd that had gathered around, but eventually tuned them out to wait patiently. Somebody in the tank's turret handed Pekoe a teapot and cups, and she poured a cup for Darjeeling.

After a few minutes of quiet, Yuzu finally built up enough courage to ask "Is there a problem, Darjeeling-dono?"

"What makes you think there's a problem?" asked Darjeeling, after taking a sip of her tea.

"Ah, Yuzu, is something going on?" came a voice from down the sidewalk. The group turned to see Hana walking over, seemingly immune to the aura of drama that kept the other bystanders away.

She walked up to the group, politely ignoring the tank parked nearby. As she approached, Rosehip dismounted from the armored car and followed behind her.

"Ah, Hana, this would be..." started Yuzu, before Hana interrupted.

"...Darjeeling, Orange Pekoe, and Rosehip of our Sensha-Do team." Hana bowed to the group. "It's an honor to meet you. Are you here to ask about Akiyama Yukari?"

Rosehip and Yuzu both blinked in surprise at the newcomer's quick assessment of the situation.

"Yes. How did you know?" asked Darjeeling, politely.

Behind her, Pekoe flexed her gloved hands again.

"I saw the story about the practice match in the school paper," Hana replied succinctly.

"Have you heard this saying?" asked Darjeeling. "Little deeds are like little seeds, they grow to flowers or to weeds." She looked at Hana expectantly.

Hana returned her gaze unblinkingly, and answered in a quiet but steady voice that did not carry outside their group. "Yes, I knew Yukari was not a St. Gloriana student, and she did let slip that she was now at Saunders. Yes, I knew when I saw her here that she was likely here to spy on the Sensha-Do team. Yes, I lied to Rosehip to cover for her."

Yuzu went pale at the revelation, and reflexively glanced at the tank looming nearby. Rosehip took a step back from Hana as Pekoe cracked her knuckles.

Hana continued without breaking eye contact with Darjeeling. "Yukari was my friend for... what feels like a long time. I did not know about the practice match with Saunders until this morning, but I should have guessed that one was scheduled. However, she had already seen what she was going to see, so I saw no harm in letting her go. After we talked, I walked her back to the ship to make sure she wouldn't go near the garages again. She did ask if I would let her know if I saw anything else."

"And what did you tell her?" asked Darjeeling.

"That I am a St. Gloriana student, and I would not help her more than I already had."

All was quiet for a second. The tension was broken by Darjeeling placing her hand gently on Pekoe's shoulder. "Calm down. The club president looks like she's going to pass out." The smaller girl visibly relaxed slightly at her commander's request.

Yuzu clutched her chest. "Hana, please... please apologize to them."

Darjeeling smiled, with little of the veiled malice she had projected earlier. "An apology is not really necessary. I believe she is being sincere with me. On reflection, while it is sobering to know we were spied upon, I do not believe her… friend could have learned anything from watching us which would have impacted the match yesterday, so Hana is not responsible for that, at least. While she may have learned a few things which might be helpful to Saunders should we meet again during the tournament, it is likely that anything she saw would only confirm what Saunders already had reason to suspect."

"However," Darjeeling continued, and her tone reacquired the edge it had earlier in the conversation, "perhaps we could find a time where you could answer some questions about your friend?"

Hana resumed her fixed stare with Darjeeling. "Of course. Tell me, did Kay suggest Ōarai as the site for the practice match?"

Both Pekoe and Rosehip stared openly at Hana. For a brief second, Darjeeling almost lost her calm demeanor.

Yuzu looked puzzled. "Hana, what does our old school have to do with this?"

"Perhaps it would be better to discuss things sooner rather than later. Can we take this conversation inside?" Darjeeling gestured to the club door.

"I would prefer a more private place to talk," replied Hana, "and our other club members have been kept out long enough." She gestured to some of the bystanders watching with rapt attention.

Darjeeling turned to Rosehip. "Would you give Hana a ride to our clubhouse?" Rosehip nodded weakly.

Yuzu grabbed Hana's arm. "If you need anything, whatever's going on... don't leave me in the dark."

Hana smiled at her club president. "Yuzu, actually, I think you should hear what I have to say as well." She turned to Darjeeling. "Is it okay if she joins us?"

"Of course, although it will be a little cramped. Rosehip, please take care of transport for our guests."

* * *

As she was doing the driving herself and it was a wheeled vehicle, Rosehip managed to not entirely unnerve her passengers on the trip, at least not more than they already were, in Yuzu's case. She parked the vehicle beside the clubhouse and helped her passengers dismount.

Shortly thereafter, Darjeeling and her assistants arrived from the garages, and ushered their guests into the clubhouse. Pekoe grabbed a pair of chairs from a side room and brought them in to the sitting room so there were six.

Darjeeling introduced the two guests to Assam, who had spent the confrontation in the tank. "These are Isuzu Hana and Koyama Yuzu… is it okay if I call you Yuzu?" When the girl nodded, she continued, "…Koyama Yuzu of our Flower Arrangement club. Hana, Yuzu, this is…"

Hana finished the introduction, "…Assam, your gunner and intelligence analyst. It's a pleasure to meet you." Hana bowed to the blonde, ponytailed intelligence expert, and, after a moment, Yuzu repeated the gesture.

Assam bowed back, then pulled out her laptop from a concealed nook under the nearby table. "Darjeeling gave me an overview on the trip. So, you're willing to talk about your friend Yukari?"

"Now, Assam, let's not be too hasty," chided Darjeeling. "These are our guests. Pekoe, would you mind? Hana, Yuzu, would you care for a cup of tea? We have a lovely Ceylon blend this morning."

Pekoe stepped into the side room and returned with a tray of tea cups and a steaming teapot, and quickly served the tea.

"It's… different," said Yuzu, after taking a sip.

"I had forgotten that our Ikebana Club still prefers the traditional green tea," said Darjeeling apologetically. "I've gotten so used to black teas since coming to St. Gloriana. It's interesting to note the way the School Carriers cultures have diverged. I remember a meeting between the traditional Chihatan Tea Ceremony Club and our Tea Appreciation club which got confusing. On the other hand, I understand our Tea Appreciation club gets along well with their counterparts at Pravda."

"Ok, about your friend Yukari," supplied Assam once the pleasantries had completed.

"That can wait," said Darjeeling, and Assam sighed heavily and set her laptop aside again. "I'm more interested in Ōarai. Yes, as you surmised, Kay was the one that suggested Ōarai as a place for our match when we were comparing available locations. Is it because she had a former Ōarai resident on her command staff? Would that really confer that much of an advantage? We had maps of the area as well."

"The news story was unfortunately vague on the details of the match. I presume it started at the… I guess it must be an old gravel pit outside of town?" asked Hana in return.

"Yes," replied Assam, eager to have some place in the discussion, "but we actually had the upper hand there. Saunders didn't start winning until we moved into the city proper, and even then we still were able to use our maps to hold our own on navigating the town. The knowledge they had of the area didn't seem to help them that much, except for the ambush Kay pulled on Rukuriri's team at that one turn."

"Rukuriri is a commander of one of the slow heavy tanks, if I remember right?" asked Hana. "Was that ambush in front of a small hotel?"

"I don't know, you'd have to ask her," replied Assam.

"May I see a map of the town?" asked Hana.

Assam pulled out her laptop and called up a map of Ōarai on the internet, then handed it to Hana. Hana quickly zoomed in, and found the offending corner. "I believe this is the spot."

Assam took back the laptop. "I've actually added an interface to the map software which allows me to visualize…" she trailed off, seeing nobody following her technical wizardry. "I can check the map." She pushed a button on the site, and two red pins popped into being at the corner Hana had indicated. "Yep, that's where Kay knocked out Rukuriri's team."

"If her loader was from Ōarai, and she knew the terrain as a tanker, she'd have been able to use that knowledge immediately," summarized Darjeeling.

"And that would be Yukari," said Assam. "So, Hana…"

"Actually, there's another person I'd like to ask about first," interjected Darjeeling. Assam groaned again, and Pekoe, Rosehip and Yuzu all looked at her sympathetically.

"That would be you, Hana." Darjeeling looked directly at Hana across the circle of chairs. "For a dedicated Ikebana practitioner, you seem to know a lot about Sensha-Do. And Yuzu mentioned you asking about tanks even before running into your inquisitive friend from Saunders."

"I think my answer might also help answer your questions, Assam," replied Hana. "To put it simply, both Yukari and I are likely delusional." She gently put her teacup down on the table next to her.

Shortly thereafter, four other teacups were set down, three of them gently. Pekoe handed a cloth napkin to Rosehip.

"That's a harsh thing to say," said Darjeeling, who paused as she continued to sip her cup of tea before continuing, "You seem perfectly sane and rational to me."

Hana looked over at her club president. "I apologize, Yuzu, I did have an ulterior motive for dragging you along." She turned back to Darjeeling and continued, "Yuzu was the student council Vice President at Ōarai, and can confirm that what I am about to say is completely at odds with reality."

It took Yuzu, Rosehip, and Assam a moment to make sense of the statement. "Yeah, I was Vice President at Ōarai," supplied Yuzu, "but what that has to do with your being delusional, I don't know."

"I remember Ōarai not closing at the end of last year. I remember the Student Council pushing a newly-created Sensha-Do club for this year's Sensha-Do tournament to such a degree that it was willing to use extraordinary pressure to coerce students into joining, although that seemed to be more the President and Head of Public Relations than Yuzu. I remember it being revealed in the middle of a National Sensha-Do Tournament which has not yet happened that the only reason that Ōarai was still open was that the Student Council President had struck a deal with the Ministry of Education that if Ōarai won the tournament the school would remain open. Since none of this is true, I must be delusional," Hana concluded matter-of-factly.

"Anzu... our Student Council President did secure a personal meeting with the Ministry head responsible for the school carriers, though the rest is obviously not what happened," said Yuzu, after a brief moment of silence. "Is this why you were asking me about tanks the other week? You suddenly 'remembered' all this?" Hana didn't respond, but merely stared at the floor.

Rosehip stood up and walked over to Hana. "So let me get this straight. You and Yukari were both on this Ōarai team, and that's how you knew about her and tanks, and why you suspected she was spying on us. And your team played at least one match at home, and that's how she knew the city from the perspective of a tanker. It's also how you know about tanks."

She looked around at the other girls. "Darjeeling figured it out already, but it'll take all afternoon for her to work way to the point, and I'm done waiting."

Pekoe giggled as Darjeeling rolled her eyes and sighed theatrically in admission.

"I don't know any of this delusion stuff, but from what I saw of Kay's tank, whoever was loading that gun knew what she was doing. So, even if you're crazy, we can learn something from this. She was a loader at Ōarai?" Rosehip pointed at Hana.

Hana nodded, "She was my loader."

"What type of tank were you commanding?" asked Rosehip, who signaled to Assam to take notes.

"I was the gunner, actually, in a Panzer IV."

"What model?" Rosehip continued her interrogation.

"I remember that it was originally a IV D, then we upgraded the gun, then we added… armored skirts, I guess they could be called to the sides. Is that a Panzer IV H?" Hana asked.

Darjeeling set down her cup. "Have you heard this saying: extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof? Rosehip, you can drive a tank. Please take the Churchill onto the gunnery range. Assam, give Hana a brief overview of the differences between a Panzer IV gunsight and the one on the Churchill, then get up to the tower. We're going to see if there is anything to this delusion."

* * *

Next: Part XII: Driving Lesson

Author's Note: And now for something completely different: a St. Gloriana episode! Characters are assumed to be speaking Japanese unless specified. I've used a few honorifics here for a very specific formal means of speaking. Had I been writing this in Japanese, there would be a proper amount, so if you're the type that likes them in your English translations, assume they are there.


	12. Driving Lesson

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XII: Driving Lesson

by Civilis

* * *

Up on the tower, Assam watched the second unbelievable thing she'd seen that day through her binoculars. Her Churchill, with a different gunner, was firing away down below as she tracked the targets and counted off shots over the radio. "…Hit…. Hit…. Hit… Slightly short… Hit… Hit… Near Miss…"

Finally, the gunfire stopped. "Is that it? How did she do?" asked Yuzu, standing next to her, with a degree of nervousness.

"It took her just about a minute over par time for the exercise, and it took her five shots to hit both of the moving targets," explained the gunner.

"Is that bad?"

"Not at all. Par time is how long it normally takes me to hit the required number of targets. Most of the people we've tried training on the Churchill tend to miss that mark by more than twice that, and those are people we've trained as gunners already," Assam explained. "She didn't miss a single one of the stationary targets after the first two, even the one at 1500m, which helped a lot. She got tripped up a bit by the moving targets, but I rarely do better than three shots for them myself, and we don't normally have beginners try hitting them at all."

The radio barked to life with Darjeeling's voice. "Assam, would you and our guest join us on the range, please?"

When the two joined the group at the bottom, Yuzu could see that Hana was smiling happily, while Darjeeling looked a little uneasy.

"While this does not prove any of the delusion to be real," the blonde commander explained, "I am willing to admit that once she adjusted to the differences in turret mechanism, cannon and gunsight that this shows Hana has the makings of a skilled gunner. I apologize to you for my disbelief in the club room."

"No need," replied Hana. "Although I'm glad that I might not be totally delusional."

Assam raised her hand. When she had everyone's attention, she said "Okay, we have found out that, for an inexplicable reason, Akiyama Yukari is an experienced loader, now at Saunders, with a knowledge of Ōarai as a match location and of tanks in general. Despite being a new student at Saunders, she's not only on their team, she's the loader for one of their major officers. I would suggest this means that Saunders is aware that Yukari is… somewhat 'delusional' herself. Do we assume that Saunders as a team knows about Hana?"

"Yes, I would make that assumption for the time being," said Darjeeling. "Hana, let us know if they try to recruit you."

"I already told Yukari that I liked it here," she replied. "I'm not going to transfer anywhere else to do Sensha-Do."

"More importantly," said Assam, "do you know anyone else that may also have the… same delusions… about being on the Ōarai team?"

"My friend Saori was our radio operator. She's now at Anzio. I emailed her to ask vaguely about tanks when I first had my… delusions, but her replies didn't include anything which would suggest she has any herself. Yukari and I, in discussing this, came to the conclusion that since most of us who were on Ōarai's team didn't know each other before starting Sensha-Do, we didn't want to confuse anyone who wouldn't remember us by bringing it up," Hana explained. "On that note, I'm sorry for dragging you back into this, Yuzu."

Yuzu looked puzzled. "Why? I don't know anything about tanks, and I didn't do Sensha-Do." Catching a glimpse of Hana's reaction, she finished with a hesitant "…or did I?"

* * *

"Are you sure I was a tank driver, Hana?" asked Yuzu from the driver's seat of Darjeeling's Churchill tank. The tank was currently lumbering slowly and inelegantly around the parade ground in front of the St. Gloriana Girls College Sensha-Do Team garages.

"I believe so," replied Hana, hesitantly, from the turret as the tank crushed another traffic cone.

"The School Discipline Club can afford to lose a couple more," said Rosehip from the co-driver's seat beside her. "Try putting a little more 'oomph' into the steering."

"I'm putting all the oomph I can," complained Yuzu. "It doesn't want to steer."

Yet another traffic cone went under the treads.

"Perhaps this is the wrong type of tank," said Orange Pekoe from the loader's seat, as she poured a cup of tea for Darjeeling. "We often have trouble when we move people from an infantry tank to a cruiser tank."

"What type of tank did she drive?" asked Darjeeling, the final member of the tank's improvised crew.

"It was a little German one, I think," said Hana. "Yukari was the tank expert. Wait… I remember her saying it wasn't actually German as she was hugging it when we first found it."

"Hugging it?" said Rosehip, as yet another traffic cone went under the tank, this time mercifully between the tracks. "Your friend is weird."

"Could it have been Czech?" asked Pekoe. "They had a bunch of little tanks the Germans used."

"The only thing I remember is that we eventually took the top off and put a turretless shell on, like a turtle, with a gun sticking out," commented Hana.

Darjeeling grabbed the radio, "Assam, what's a small Czech tank that the Germans converted into an enclosed tank destroyer?"

"Is this another attempt at a joke?" came Assam's reply back. "Oh… I mean, I think that's the Panzer 38(t), which can be converted into a Hetzer, which is a small tank destroyer."

"So we have someone that may have been trained on a little fast agile tank, who we've asked to try driving a big slow clumsy tank. And we're wondering why it's not working." Darjeeling summarized the situation. "Yuzu, can you stop the tank?"

"Here?" asked Yuzu.

Darjeeling poked her head out of the hatch and looked around. "Here is fine. We'll get someone to put it in the garage later."

Everyone piled out of the tank, and Assam joined them from the tower.

"What we've decided to do is try Yuzu in a smaller tank and see if that works," said Darjeeling. "Do we have any cruiser tanks we can try?"

"It'll have to wait until we get one of the Crusaders repaired," replied Pekoe.

"Well," said Assam, "there is always that…" She nodded towards the garage at the end of the row.

"Oh no, we're still working on 'that'," Rosehip countered defensively. "That is not something a novice should be driving. My Crusader drivers have issues driving it at anything near top speed. The engine also isn't tuned right. On top of that, it's supposed to be a secret."

"Rosehip, in case you forgot, everyone in town has seen you driving it," replied Darjeeling. "You already gave an enemy spy a ride in the Cromwell."

"You have a point, there," the rose-haired girl admitted. "Fine, we'll give it a shot."

A few minutes later, Rosehip returned driving the turretless Cromwell. She hopped out, and pulled a pair of helmets from the open top, handing one to Yuzu, before putting the other on. "Put this on, and we'll give it a try."

Yuzu put on the helmet, and climbed into the driver's seat, while Rosehip strapped herself into one of the temporary seats in the back. The other four girls retreated up the tower to watch.

"All right, let's go!" yelled Rosehip, pointing forward, only to be jerked around as the tank lurched back a few feet.

"Sorry, just getting the hang of this!" called Yuzu.

The tank started forward slowly, as Yuzu practiced simple controls, and then sped up as she gained some comfort with the machine. She circled the garages, then the clubhouse, then the Churchill, and finally began doing figure eights around the crushed traffic cones.

"Wooooo!" the group at the tower could here Rosehip yelling as the tank passed below.

"She does get excited, doesn't she?" said Darjeeling. "I suspect this means that Yuzu does indeed have some talent at driving, given a suitable machine."

At Rosehip's urging, Yuzu took the machine out onto the gunnery range itself, testing its handling on the more uneven terrain, before signaling that she should return to the garage.

"Can I try something first?" Yuzu asked Rosehip, who nodded. "Ok, hold on." Rosehip gripped the turret ring.

Yuzu started by driving the Cromwell out in a large circle towards the front gate. Once at the gate, she slowed down and executed a sharp turn towards the garages, lining the tank up at the front of the parked Churchill. She then gunned the engine, and nudged the tank to pass just to the side of the larger infantry tank on the side opposite the garage. Once it was almost there, she put it into a sharp turn, then stopped the tank, hard.

The tank came to a stop with the front end almost facing the back of the Churchill. Hana would later swear she could see Rosehip's massive grin clearly from the top of the tower. The loud cry of "Oh Yeah!", however, required no imagination.

Yuzu, blushing, pulled the tank into the garage at a more sedate pace and stopped it. She opened the drivers' hatch to find Rosehip already waiting, hand extended, to give her some assistance getting out. When they had exited the machine, they found the other four waiting for them at the garage door.

"It's odd. This time it felt more natural, somehow," said Yuzu. "It's like it just clicked."

"That last move. What inspired you to do that?" asked Darjeeling.

"I guess… the point is to get behind the other tank if you can, and that just seemed like the fastest way."

"Well, I'm glad we could talk like this," said Darjeeling. "Despite the earlier unpleasantness, I think we've patched things up. Hana, I don't hold what happened against you. Yuzu, I'm sorry for interrupting your club. You're both welcome to stop in and visit us any time you like. If you let us know in advance, I'll even get Pekoe to put some green tea on for you. If you don't mind squeezing into the Dingo again, I'll have Rosehip drive you back to your clubhouse."

"That would be fine," replied Hana. "If I hear anything more from Yukari, or come up with anything else which might help, I'll let you know."

"Would you be willing to answer a few more questions about your friend or these 'delusions' at a later date?" asked Assam.

"I would, though I won't go into anything too personal. I do have a request though. I did invite Yukari to visit sometime as a friend when things have settled down…" she let the implied question linger.

"As long as we have time to hide anything interesting, that shouldn't be a problem," said Darjeeling. "We'd love to have any friends of yours over for tea."

* * *

Once the pair were safely away with Rosehip, Darjeeling, Pekoe and Assam changed back into their school uniforms and returned to their clubhouse to find Rukuriri waiting with a large brown-wrapped package. "This came for us. It's from Kay."

Pekoe grabbed the box and set it down on one of the tables. "It's surprisingly light, whatever it is."

"I suspect it's a consolation gift for being a good sport about the match. We sent them some tea after beating them last year in the tournament," said Darjeeling. "Open it up."

Pekoe opened the box, and pulled out a tall cylindrical tin in gaudy red, white and blue, with a note on top. Rukuriri took the note, while Pekoe pried open the lid.

"What's inside, Pekoe?"

Pekoe grabbed a handful of the contents. "Popcorn. Three different types." She ate a handful of the caramel-covered popcorn.

"I suppose that's thoughtful of her," replied Darjeeling. "What's the note say?"

"It's just a name. Isuzu Hana. It's on Saunders letterhead, so it's from them. No idea who that is," said Rukuriri.

Pekoe and Assam exchanged glances.

"That happens to be the name of one of the girls from the Flower Arrangement club that was just here. I'll introduce you next time they stop by," said Darjeeling.

"What's going on with the Flower Arrangement club?" Rukuriri asked. "First there are rumors that you threatening them with a tank. Then you invite them over for tea and show off the Cromwell, from what I could tell. Now one is the subject of a mysterious note from Saunders."

"I can't explain everything now," replied Darjeeling. "However, I expect they'll be back. They may end up helping us out with a few things, even."

"I never seem to know what is going on around here," Rukuriri griped. "I'm going to go check on the repair work for the Matildas."

When she had left, Assam asked "Why didn't you suggest that they join the club to make up for the trouble? We're not quite shorthanded, but we could certainly find a use for a decent gunner and driver."

Darjeeling smiled. "I'd rather they decide to join us on their own, rather than feel pressured to do so. I'm not going to make the mistakes of the past. And they will, eventually."

Pekoe turned from her tea preparation and asked "How are you so sure?"

Darjeeling smiled. "Have you heard this saying? 'There is no road of flowers towards glory.' "

* * *

Next: Part XIII: Homecoming

Author's Note: More St. Gloriana, and more non-Oarai Sensha-Do team operations. Writing Darjeeling is fun!


	13. Homecoming

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XIII: Homecoming

by Civilis

* * *

"Kay, you don't understand. I know these people. This operation won't be as easy as you think," urged Yukari.

"Relax, we've faced worse opposition before. Besides, you're Akiyama Yukari, Super Spy. This operation shouldn't faze you at all," replied Kay with a cheerful grin. "Besides, we're on a tight schedule, and we don't have any other options."

"All right, but don't say I didn't warn you," replied Yukari as she threw open the door.

"Yukari! I missed you so much!" said Akiyama Yoshiko as she caught sight of her daughter in the doorway of what would soon be Akiyama Barbers. The once-vacant store had been refurbished, but the room, and in fact the entire building, was still empty of furniture as the Akiyamas had taken possession only that same morning. Mother and daughter embraced in a hug in the middle of the room.

Yukari's father, hearing the noise from the front, came into the room to greet his daughter. "Yukari!" he called, but then he noticed the blonde girl watching from the doorway. "Hello! We're just moving in, so we're not open yet..."

"Dad, she's with me. Come on in, Kay."

"Yukari? Is... is this...?" Akiyama Jungorou stammered.

Kay walked over, grabbed his hand, and shook it firmly. "Hi, I'm Kay. I'm Yukari's teammate... and friend."

"Yukari! Congratulations!" said her mother. "I knew you'd make friends here." She turned to the newcomer. "Hi, Kei. Thanks for being friends with my daughter. Can you stick around and help? We just managed to get the paperwork finished on the store, and could use some help getting things unloaded once we get them to bring the shipping container with our stuff up from the dock."

"Help? Oh, don't worry about that," said Kay. She stepped to the door, leaned out, and waved.

Moments later, the sound of a heavy truck could be heard from the street outside. It stopped just out front of the store. A little after that, the first box of the Akiyama's possessions was carried in by a Saunders tanker. "Where do you want this?"

"What... what..." Yukari's dad stammered again, as a team of Saunders Tankery students efficiently began bringing in the rest of the items from the shipping container tied down to the tank transporter parked outside. Yukari's mother, much less astonished at her daughter, began directing where boxes and furniture should go.

"We have a club meeting in a little while. Yukari said she couldn't make it because she had to help you unpack. So we asked for volunteers," Kay explained.

Arisa had actually been the one to send around the signup sheet, although she herself had not volunteered. It hadn't mattered, more than enough club members had volunteered to help to get the operation done quickly. A couple of the team mechanics had even brought power tools to help with mounting the mirrors on the walls and bolting down the barber's chairs. Yukari's meager dorm room things were brought over via jeep.

As things were finishing up, one last box, which none of the Akiyamas recognized, was handed off to Kay. "We're glad to have your daughter on our team," said Kay, "so I went out and got you this as a welcome gift for your shop. Yukari said you're not really into tanks, but we figured this would fit in your store and attract customers." She pulled an odd, generally tank shaped container from the box. "It's a magazine rack for your waiting area; there are a couple of artisans that will make anything tank shaped," Kay explained. "We added the Saunders logos. Students around here tend to be real big on school pride."

"Thank you, Kei," said Yukari's mom, while her father bowed.

"Come on, Yukari, it's almost meeting time. You can get your room unpacked later."

"Bye mom, dad. See you both this evening!" Yukari headed out.

"And you thought she would still have trouble making friends," said Yoshiko as she elbowed her husband.

* * *

"We already had the post-battle review. What's this meeting about?" Yukari asked on the ride back to the Tankery garages.

"It's just a preparatory meeting I want to get out of the way before Nationals gets under way this weekend," Kay replied.

"You made it sound so important earlier," Yukari replied. "After all, you went through all that to get my parents' shop set up. Thanks for that, by the way. And I'm sorry about my father. He's just glad that I finally have friends."

"Didn't you have friends in the other timeline? Like Hana?" said Kay, changing the subject.

"Yeah. I got lucky… I wasn't home the first time they stopped by. Dad doesn't remember that, of course."

"I'm sure you'll see more of them again," said Kay, smiling happily. "And your dad was fine, parents are there to embarrass you."

The jeep pulled up to the garages. "The meeting's in Meeting Room C down below. We're a little early, so I've got something quick I need to do in the clubroom," Kay said. "Why don't you go down and wait for them to open up the room." The blonde dashed off.

Yukari took the stairs down to the meeting room level, and from there to the room itself. She had gradually gotten used to the massive internal maze of the new School Carrier, or at least that of the Tankery section.

Waiting in front of the meeting room were about twenty other girls standing around impatiently in front of the meeting room. She recognized most of them as having been among the crews that had participated in the practice match with St. Gloriana.

Standing in front of the door was a Discipline Committee member of the School Patrol. Per their agreement with the Tankery Team, they had been providing security to prevent outsiders from sneaking into team meetings.

Yukari exchanged greetings with her teammates, some of whom had been on the moving detail. Minutes passed, and there was no sign of Kay or of any motion to go into the room.

Finally, the SP girl's phone buzzed, and she checked it. "You can go in now," she said, and stepped aside.

The meeting room was quiet and dark, save for a single weak spotlight illuminating the empty podium on the stage at the far end of the room. One of the girls tried the light switch, but found it did nothing. Yukari pulled a flashlight from her coat pocket and flicked it on, pointed at the floor.

"Figures she'd have one of those," came Naomi's voice from the darkness. "Hit the lights, you guys."

The lights came on to reveal most of the senior members of the Tankery team, including all three commanders, standing at the far edges of the room, smiling.

"Come on in and sit down, you guys," said Kay, cheerfully, as she mounted the stage. "Saunders University High School has had a proud tradition of Tankery for decades, and the team itself has found its own traditions along the way. One of those traditions has been a little ceremony to welcome new full members to the team itself. All of those for whom this is a new experience fought with skill and courage against St. Gloriana in the recent match, and we're here this afternoon to move you officially from training status to full member."

Arisa handed Kay a clipboard, which she set on the podium. "Another one of those traditions has been the assignment of an American nom-de-gurre to full team members. You are not required to use it at all times, but the school will recognize it, and most other Tankery teams will recognize what it means to have a name from Saunders. I will now call each of you up one-by-one."

Kay proceeded to call up the new team members one by one. The ceremony was by no means solemn, and in some cases had the feel of a roast. Kay chided a girl that Yukari recognized as having been the commander of Outfielder 1 for not being able to fix a busted track before awarding her her name. However, the whole thing was a friendly, relaxed event, with the veterans cheering on the new team members.

As the girls received their names one by one, Yukari began to get the feeling that she was being left for last for some reason. Indeed, when Kay got to "… And last, Akiyama Yukari" and she began to walk up to the stage, she got the feeling that most of the audience was anticipating something big.

Kay looked at her and smiled. "Yukari, we saved you for last for a reason. While you are definitely an asset to the team, I think everyone here has noticed that you are a little strange."

"That's putting it mildly," quipped Arisa. Naomi smacked her lightly on the back of the head, and the audience laughed.

"Normally," Kay continued, "Saunders nom-de-Guerre are common American names. However, in extraordinary cases, we do occasionally choose a more suitable name. It took me a while to find one suitable for an unusual person like yourself."

She paused for dramatic effect.

"I hereby name thee Oddball."

The room exploded in cheers and laughter for more than a minute, before it died down, only to be replaced by a chant of "Oddball! Oddball! Oddball!"

Kay turned to Yukari. "What's your rank and name?"

Yukari, though blushing out of sheer embarrassment, managed to get out a loud "Sergeant Oddball, Third Class!"

When the renewed laughter had died down, Kay took the podium again. "Oddball will be serving as Deputy Intelligence Officer and will also be our Covert Operations Officer. Oddball, we expect that next time you go spy that you'll bring back some more exciting footage to show us. Try to get a car chase or something."

When Yukari had finally returned to her seat, Kay once more addressed the group. "This weekend is the official start of the National Tournament, when we will be finding out who we will be playing first. Naomi and I will be attending the opening ceremony as team representatives, so behave yourselves while we are gone. On that note, we will be having another movie night at the theater after this meeting. In honor of Oddball, we will be showing Kelly's Heroes. Dismissed!"

* * *

Yukari looked up from her book, 'Panzers in Normandy', when Arisa called "Kay sent me the tournament brackets! We're up against Anzio first!"

"Oh? What are the other matchups?" she asked.

"Pravda faces Chihatan and we'll be facing the winner of that match, meaning Pravda, next," Arisa replied confidently. "St. Gloriana faces BC Freedom and then Kuromorimine in the Semifinals."

"Who's Kuromorimine playing in the first round? What of the little schools?"

"What do you mean? That's it," replied Arisa, confused.

"There are 16 teams in the tournament," said Yukari.

"This must be one of those science fiction dream memory things I didn't get," said Arisa. "After last year's tournament, they changed the rules to require all schools competing to be able to field twenty tanks. It's supposed to weed out some of the weaker schools. I think Anzio just barely managed to squeak by in the past couple of weeks, which is why I'm not too worried about them, though it does mean we'll need to find out what they were able to dredge up to replace their CV33s."

"Yeah, that's definitely different," said Yukari nervously, pondering the implications. "What do you mean, replace their CV33s?"

"The new rules don't allow you to count tanks armed only with machineguns. You must have enough tanks that you can field twenty with at least a 30mm gun. I think you can field tankettes as scouts if you want, so we still might see one or two, but it will be rare."

"That would mean they could use some cheap Carro Armato M11 light tanks, at least," Yukari figured. "Do you know why they changed the rules?"

"Rumor has it that the Ministry of Education put some pressure on the Sensha-Do Federation in light of the international tournament that was just announced. Since they pay for the programs, they have some pull," Arisa explained. "A lot of the smaller teams were basically only in it for side efforts like Tankathalon anyway."

"I've been so busy, and so focused on Ōarai, that I didn't think to check if anything else had changed. Do you think there could be a connection between the two?" Yukari asked.

"Aside from the Ministry of Education, I doubt it, and since they're responsible for paying for almost everything around here, it's hard to find something they don't touch. Still, since I remember some of it, I'm curious. I didn't catch that you only had eight tanks in a battle meant for ten. If you figure something out, Yukari, let me know."

Yukari smiled weakly. "I'm just glad that you're not calling me Oddball all the time."

"Oh, I will, at least when it's most embarrassing. Kay told Naomi and me to go light on you since you still have that attachment to your old team."

"So there were only seven teams able to scrounge up twenty tanks?"

"Yep. Chihatan has a lot of Chi-has in storage because nobody else wants them. BC Freedom inherited basically two schools worth of tanks. And Anzio managed to pull something off," Arisa said. "I don't know where they came up with the money, but they bought enough tanks to make the tournament."

"So they had to give someone a bye, and everyone got lucky and Kuromorimine managed to get it?" Yukari asked. Normally, getting the bye would be lucky, but nobody wanted to face off against Kuromorimine in the first round.

"Of course they gave the bye to Kuromorimine. It was obvious they'd give it to the winner of the previous tournament."

Arisa caught the look Yukari gave.

"I know, for you, Ōarai won the previous tournament, but that was on the other timeline. This is the tournament before that one," said Arisa.

Yukari's voice was strained, as she realized that something was really wrong. "My memories say Pravda won the tournament the year before we did."

"Pravda got knocked out in the semi-finals last year. Though, realistically, they came pretty close. If anyone had a chance, they did." Arisa looked at Yukari with pity. "Alas, here, Kuromorimine is the ten time winner. Nobody at High School level beats the Nishizumis, even if you somehow did."

"Let me see the computer," said Yukari, sounding truly scared.

"Okay, you can check if you want." Arisa stepped away from the computer desk. For all her self-centered nature, she realized something was obviously wrong. "You'll see I'm not lying."

Less than ten minutes later, Yukari left the room at a run, tears in her eyes.

* * *

Next: Part XIV: Damaged and Recovered

Author's Note: Plot development! Emotional roller-coaster time! And advance warning that I had to beef up Anzio a bit to make their match interesting.


	14. Damaged and Recovered

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XIV: Damaged and Recovered

by Civilis

* * *

"We have a problem, Kay," said Arisa, quickly.

Kay, who had just deplaned from the return flight from the National Sensha-Do Tournament opening meeting, looked at her Executive Officer standing next to a jeep on the tarmac. Arisa had been waiting when the plane touched down, and had pulled the jeep up as soon as the plane reached its hangar. Even more uncharacteristically, she had helped pull the boarding stairs up to the side of the plane.

"Problems can wait. There's this tank café near the Tournament HQ that sells tank-shaped cakes. I brought back some for you and Oddball," replied Kay, in the cheerful tone of someone that also had her own slice of cake to look forward to.

"Yukari is the problem."

Kay caught Arisa's tone, which was serious even for her. "What happened to Yukari?"

"She's shut herself in one of the tanks. She had some kind of fit yesterday and got really upset."

Naomi, who had just joined them, asked "Yukari's upset? Is it the Oddball thing?"

"I warned you about being good while we were out, Arisa," added Kay. "What exactly did you do to the poor girl?"

"Nothing! I swear!" Arisa looked around and made sure nobody else was in earshot. "We found out a few more things that she… uh, 'misremembers', specifically about last year's National Tournament. Something she found out set her off. She's been shut up in one of the tanks since yesterday. I've told everyone to leave her be, but it looks bad."

* * *

When they reached the garage, they found a couple of team members watching the Sherman parked in the middle of the floor.

"Anything happen since I left?" asked Arisa.

"Her mother called again. We told her what you did, that she was just busy working on something. A couple of the girls left a bag from McDonalds with some breakfast on the tank near the driver's hatch. We thought the smell might make her hungry," the first one recounted.

"When you named her Oddball, you weren't kidding," the second added.

"Go ahead and head out. Also, try not to say too much about this," said Arisa.

When they had left, Kay walked over to the tank, calling "Yukari? You able to talk?"

The tank was silent.

"Ok, you said that you determined that last year's tournament, for her, was won by Pravda," said Naomi, keeping her voice low as she walked through Arisa's recollection of the day before in an attempt to find new meaning. "She then goes on to the internet, finds a video of last year's finals, where Kuromorimine beat St. Gloriana, then watched a video of highlights from the Pravda vs Kuromorimine match, then watched a video of this years' tournament bracket ceremony, and that caused her to freak out."

"It's just the current teams drawing their lot numbers, while the other team captains stand around and watch," said Arisa.

Kay scrambled up onto the Sherman. Testing the cupola hatch, she found it unlatched, and it opened smoothly. "Looks like she's asleep in there."

"You mean I've been waiting here all night while she slept?" Arisa groaned.

"Hey! Oddball! Wake up! I brought you food and souvenirs!" yelled Kay into the hatch. After a moment, she smiled, then gave Naomi and Arisa a thumbs up.

A minute later, Yukari's fluffy hair, much more disheveled than usual, slowly began to rise through the hatch, followed by the rest of her. She looked like she hadn't slept well, and had spent some time crying.

"Kay? I… I'm sorry about this," she whimpered.

"Relax, Yukari. It's just friends here… and Arisa. Come on out and we'll find out what's troubling you and how to fix it." Kay gently coaxed Yukari out of the turret.

Naomi ran over to the Sherman to help Yukari down from the turret. Kay followed her down, and the two helped Yukari to walk over and sit on a crate that one of the previous watchers had been using as a seat. Meanwhile, Arisa recovered the McDonalds bag and dropped it next to Yukari. "You look horrible. Eat something before you pass out. We're here, so whatever's wrong can wait."

Yukari quickly wolfed down the breakfast, and finished off a bottle of water that had been left by the watchers.

When she had finished, Kay sat down next to her, and put her arm around Yukari's shaking shoulders. "All right, you ready to head back? You gave us quite a scare. We'll get you to the infirmary, let you get some real sleep."

Naomi pulled a bag from the jeep. "We got you some cake, but that can wait until you're feeling better. Perhaps this will help. I know you had some friends that liked stuffed animals, and I saw this at the museum shop at the Sensha-Do federation HQ, and figured if you didn't want it you'd know someone else that would." She pulled out what looked to be a stuffed representation of a tank, and extended it towards Yukari. "I was going to get the stuffed Sherman, but since it was for your friends I thought you'd want a Panz…"

Seeing the Panzer IV, recognizable even in chibi, stuffed form, Yukari broke down again. Kay could make out the occasional words amidst the sobs. "It was…. It was all… all for nothing. We had… had won. She was… free… was happy."

"Ok. Stuffed tank: Bad idea," commented Arisa.

Naomi moved to stuff the tank back into the bag, but it was snatched out of her hands by Yukari, who hugged it to her chest.

"Arisa, get the jeep started. Naomi, get in the back," ordered Kay, still clutching Yukari. When they had complied, Kay picked Yukari up, carried her over and sat her next to Naomi. "Hold her," Kay ordered. Naomi put her arm around Yukari's shoulders while Kay jumped into the front passenger seat. "Get to the infirmary. On the double."

"The school infirmary?" asked Arisa, as the jeep shot out of the garage.

"The main one." Most School Carriers, being at sea, had the occasional need to handle emergencies, so they had what was effectively a small hospital aboard as a main infirmary, with smaller traditional school infirmaries in each of the school departments.

With Arisa at the wheel, the jeep shot through the streets of Saunders, and they were quickly at the main infirmary. While Naomi and Arisa eased Yukari out of the jeep, Kay stormed up to the desk. "One of my team members is having a bit of a nervous breakdown. I need a quiet room where she can rest and not be disturbed." When Yukari stumbled in, escorted by the other two girls, the nurse quietly led them to a private room. Yukari collapsed into the bed, still clutching the stuffed toy.

"You want me to keep watch?" asked Arisa.

"You look almost as bad as Oddball," said Kay. "Get some sleep yourself. And… thanks for looking after her. Naomi, you were up early to get the plane ready for our flight back. You go back too. I'll keep watch here." She grabbed a chair and parked herself next to the door.

* * *

A couple of hours later, Yukari recovered her senses to find herself looking at an unfamiliar ceiling. She remembered the previous day's revelations, remembered the breakdown and remembered her new friends being there for her.

She slowly got to her feet and opened the door. Kay was in a chair propped up against the wall. Hearing the door opening, she turned. "Yukari! How are you doing?"

"Better, I think. Do you have time to talk?"

"Sure, anything. First, are you sure you are feeling up to it?" Kay asked.

"Yeah, I am. It's important. I think Naomi and Arisa should be there as well," Yukari replied.

"Naomi called a few minutes ago. They both got cleaned up and are back at the clubroom. Does that work for you?"

Yukari nodded, and went back and grabbed the stuffed toy from the bed and followed Kay out to the jeep.

"I talked to the Infirmary staff. Since there wasn't any real injury, you're good to head home," Kay informed Yukari. "We made sure everything was handled smoothly."

"Kay, why is there a tank parked in front of the infirmary?"

"One of the girls saw us take you to the infirmary, and asked what was wrong. Arisa told them it was just a case of nerves from working too hard, and that under no circumstances were you to be disturbed. A few of them took it literally," Kay explained, as she waved to the tank commander lounging in the cupola.

A few minutes later, they were back in the jeep driving to the Tankery team garages, the tank following along behind. The trip was quiet. A few curious tourists seemed briefly interested, but were soon deterred by their escort's attention, in the form of a turret traversing in their direction.

When they got to the clubroom, they found Arisa and Naomi had brought food and drinks. Yukari, still hungry, eagerly ate in silence, the obvious questions waiting until she was truly ready.

When she had finished, Kay asked her, "Are you up for talking now, or do you want to wait until tomorrow?"

"I'm sorry about this," Yukari replied.

"No need to apologize," said Naomi, and Arisa nodded.

"What did you remember?" asked Kay.

"I had a friend at Ōarai. She was a transfer student from Kuromorimine. The Student Council pressured her into joining the team, which she really did not want to do. From what I heard, she had a bit of a nervous breakdown herself when she found out Ōarai was even forming a team." Yukari fought to push away her tears.

"Is this the one you were talking about when you saw the toy tank?" Kay asked.

"Yeah. They knew she had experience, you see. She was the only one we had that did. And she had switched schools to get away from tanks."

"So they forced her to do it at Ōarai. And given that you guys didn't really know what you were doing, you needed her," supplied Naomi. "You got her to train you."

"Kuromorimine's Sensha-do team's really big on the structured, disciplined training. It's not fun. I think I'd rather be at Pravda," added Arisa. "But one girl couldn't train you that way, and, given that she got away from that sort of thing, she wouldn't have even if she could."

"Did she have fun at Ōarai?" asked Kay.

"Yeah, in the end, she found that Sensha-Do, if she could do it at her own pace, could still be fun, and because of her, we all ended up having fun."

"And so unlike this 'other timeline', here you discovered she's still stuck at Kuromorimine, possibly because of something that happened differently with the last tournament," Kay guessed.

"Yeah. In the... other last tournament, she did something that cost Kuromorimine the match against Pravda. That was their first defeat in ten years. That was the final straw that caused her to leave."

"Was she in the Panzer III? The one that slid into the river?" asked Arisa.

"No, she abandoned her tank to rescue the Panzer III crew. That's the difference between the other timeline and this one."

Arisa jumped onto the computer and called up something. "You called up video from the ceremony just before you… got upset. There weren't a lot of students at the Tournament opening ceremony, especially from Kuromorimine. Are you telling me you studied Tankery under, and Ōarai's team was commanded by…"

"…by my friend, Miho." Yukari collapsed onto the table, sobbing.

Naomi and Arisa's jaws dropped in unison.

"Nishizumi Miho, daughter of Nishizumi Shiho, the head of the Nishizumi school of Sensha-Do, and younger sister of Nishizumi Maho, the two-time High School Sensha-Do National Tournament champion commander," Kay completed the name. "That Miho. The girl who commanded the Kuromorimine flag tank, Tiger 217, in the match with Pravda last year and is, as of yesterday, this year's commander of Kuromorimine's Sensha-Do team."

Arisa turned the monitor around to show a girl in Kuromorimine's panzer gray uniform, watching the opening ceremony for the National Championship from the audience. She had none of the life, energy or the happiness, that Yukari had remembered that she had as Ōarai's commander.

"I had just assumed Miho had gone on to some other school without Tankery," said Yukari, when she had recovered enough to speak.

"Well, then," said Kay, "our course of action is clear at this point. Oddball's our friend. This girl was her friend. They need to be friends again. It's obvious what we have to do: get to the finals and, hopefully, beat Kuromorimine."

"A legendary quest to bring down the most dangerous enemy to save the girl? I'm in," said Naomi.

"It does soften my loss in that practice match that I wasn't up against a newbie but against a Nishizumi-trained veteran, and you gave me a win over St. Gloriana. I'm in," said Arisa.

"You in, Oddball?" Kay looked at Yukari.

"Yes. For Miho."

Why had she assumed that in this world Miho had managed to escape the unhappiness she'd escaped in the other world? Miho had been just as much of a fixture at Ōarai as everyone else, and Yukari had forgotten she'd just started at Ōarai in April. For that matter, why had she assumed that Ōarai's closing was the only change in this world? Obviously, the previous Sensha-Do tournament had happened before that. Could there be a connection between the two?

"One thing I don't get, though," said Naomi. "You and Arisa came up with that plan we used against Darjeeling, presumably based on what beat her the first time. The Nishizumi School is based on powerful, direct attacks, yet your plan was defensive. Nishizumi herself trained you, yet you fight trickier than Arisa, not like one of the drilled Kuromorimine team members."

"We actually never beat Darjeeling in a match," Yukari admitted. "But, yeah, I went with what we tried last time, modified based on how St. Gloriana reacted."

"You would kind of have to play tricky to win with that pitiful Ōarai lineup, though," Kay commented. "To win, Ōarai would have needed someone capable of thinking creatively and tactically while on the move and, most importantly, someone capable of teaching those skills to others, because you can't always radio back to command for orders. If you can get your entire team able to do that well enough to beat Kuromorimine, you can probably take on anyone else with no problems."

"We actually won most matches by the slimmest of margins. Well, except for Anzio. We won that match pretty easily," said Yukari.

"You were still learning at the time," replied Kay. "Just look what you can do now."

"This means I'm getting you to sit down and tell me what you remember about the other Ōarai students. It sounds like there's possibly a whole team of Nishizumi-trained Kuromorimine-killing Tankery badasses out there, and I am not passing up trying to recruit any of them." Arisa stopped when she saw the look Kay was giving her. "Though I will promise to be nice about it," she added.

"Well, one thing's for sure, I am not sitting out our next match against St. Gloriana. That's going to be fun," said Naomi cryptically.

"Oh?" asked Arisa.

"Kay's always been the type that would prefer to lose a close, fair fight than win a lopsided rout. She's a good sport that way. You'll see." was Naomi's only response.

"I'm in Tankery because it's fun and exciting, and this season definitely looks extra fun and exciting." Kay smiled at the group, then turned to Yukari. "Are you feeling better, Oddball? For this to work, we need your planning skills, starting with our match against Anzio." Yukari nodded to Kay. "All right, let's get to work."

* * *

Next: Part XV: The Road Towards Glory

Author's Note: The first big hint that this isn't just a 'main character woke up in an alternate world' excuse plot, the author actually tried setting things up.


	15. The Road Towards Glory

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XV: The Road Towards Glory

by Civilis

* * *

"Hana, do you have a minute?"

"Of course, Yuzu." Hana Isuzu set down the flowers she had been considering adding to her latest arrangement, and beckoned the president of the St. Gloriana Girl's College Flower Arrangement Society in to her private workroom in the club's cottage. "Have a seat. Would you like a cup of tea?"

Yuzu entered, shut the door, and sat down.

"Hana, the other me, the one from your 'delusions', as you call them. What was she like?"

"She was a hard worker. She would do jobs nobody else wanted to do without complaining. She looked out for those she was responsible for." Hana smiled warmly. "In other words, she was like you, because she was you. Why do you want to know so suddenly?"

"Because I think I'm starting to remember her, or more of her than just how to drive a tank." Yuzu paused, then looked at the floor. "I think I'd like that cup of tea."

Hana retrieved her teapot and two cups, and poured one for each of them.

Yuzu downed hers quickly. "I remember helping Anzu to do some things which weren't very nice, and I remember you being there. I don't like being like that, and I don't want to become like that."

Hana sipped her tea. "You, Anzu, and Momo were friends, right? You must miss them."

"We knew each other since our first year of elementary school. When we started high school, at Ōarai, I remember the school leadership was so incompetent, Anzu just barged in and got herself made the new Student Council President. She was like that. Then she got Momo and me to do almost all the work. And I looked at what happened here, and I wonder if I'm just like her." She paused as Hana refilled her tea.

"Anzu could be manipulative, and she wasn't always very nice, but I suspect that she was driven because she wanted to save her school, and wanted to be with you and Momo, her friends. I think that's what made her desperate. In that way, yes, you're like her, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Like flowers, each one is both like others and at the same time is unique."

Hana, sensing some inspiration, picked up a flower she had set down and neatly tucked it into her arrangement.

"Tell me, do you remember if Anzu was the one that suggested the Student Council join the Sensha-do team?"

Yuzu thought for a second. "I think it was Momo that mentioned the idea, and Anzu decided to make it happen. Anzu was like that. She wouldn't ask people to do something she wasn't willing to do herself if she needed to, even if she did shirk off doing the paperwork when she could get away with it."

"Some of the people in the club here are only here for the school credit. You are trying sincerely to learn the art of Ikebana," Hana patiently explained, "and you still handle the paperwork. And your latest arrangements are very well done."

"I had an excellent teacher." Yuzu paused as if making up her mind about something. "When you go back to the Sensha-Do team, let me know. I'd like to come along. If you can handle doing both Ikebana and Sensha-do, so can I."

"What makes you think I'm going back?" said Hana. "I'll admit I've toyed with the idea. Gunnery is a powerful art in a different way than Ikebana. But I have not made up my mind. Besides, it would be rude to burden them while they are preparing for their match against BC Freedom."

"Hana, you asked for a number of specialty vases shaped like tanks, which I had to find and order. Your latest arrangements using them are colorful explosions of flowers. Everyone in the club knows what's on your mind."

Hana looked at the arrangements around her as if seeing them for the first time. "I suppose you're right. Mother will not be happy, though. There's a show coming up she wants me to help her with by submitting a few pieces."

"I'm sure we can work something out," Yuzu replied.

* * *

"… and that's what I think BC Freedom will be fielding against us," concluded Assam. "Any questions?"

Rosehip and Darjeeling didn't look impressed at their opponent's likely lineup. Pekoe popped a handful of popcorn into her mouth.

"No, I think we can handle ordinary Shermans and Renaults," Darjeeling replied after thinking it over. "More importantly, unlike Saunders, BC's command structure is hopelessly complicated. I also think you're right that they'll put their ten best tanks into the match against us. Which brings me to our next topic of discussion, what tanks we'll be fielding."

Assam advanced the presentation to the next slide. "Rosehip, what's the status of the Cromwells?"

"We have two usable, at least as far as tanks go, though the engines and drivetrain aren't yet perfect. The biggest problem, though, is the crews. You agreed with me when I said we should leave our current five top Crusader crews as intact as possible, so we've been having some of the other girls take a try, and it hasn't been good."

"Oh? Why?" asked Darjeeling.

"The Sensha-do federation approved engines for those are, if anything, more powerful than the original ones, so they require a deft touch at the controls to drive, especially since we're using the ungoverned versions to take advantage of the speed. And that's when they're working properly; trying to train crews on tanks that aren't running properly is even more difficult. Meanwhile, the guns actually have a slower muzzle velocity than the 6pdrs on the Crusader, so the gunners need to adjust."

"We haven't had a problem with the federation engines on the infantry tanks," said Assam.

"We started out with those, so the crews were trained with them. Besides, all that extra power means is that your Matildas can go faster than a walking pace." Rosehip sighed in frustration at the inability of her infantry tank trained commanders to understand the needs of her cruiser tank sections.

"If we only have two Cromwells ready," said Darjeeling, "and the Crusader tanks can handle the BC tanks well enough, it seems best to save the Cromwells for Kuromorimine. The cruisers seem to handle best as a pack, so we should stick to one model of tank that can work together."

"So, our tank lineup for BC will be the same as it was for Saunders?" Assam asked Darjeeling.

"I think that will be best. Any objections?" Darjeeling asked the group.

Pekoe raised her hand.

"Pekoe?"

"Does anyone want any more tea?" the smaller girl asked.

"I do," said Darjeeling, "and it looks like Rosehip needs a refill."

Pekoe returned a few minutes later with three more cups of tea, which she distributed, and a plate full of popcorn, which she set down next to her seat.

"Pekoe seems to be enjoying Kay's gift," commented Assam.

"On that note, what of the other two Cromwells?" Darjeeling asked.

"We can have them ready and tested by the semifinals. Are we then sure that we want four Cromwells? There is that… other option."

"I left that up to you, Rosehip. We have the money, but if we don't have crews capable of operating the tanks, it seems something of a waste." Darjeeling slowly stirred her tea.

"We do know where we can find one crew capable of operating a Cromwell, except for the loader," Assam reminded the group.

Darjeeling smiled. "I actually got an email from one of our friends in the Flower Arrangement club yesterday. They're supposed to be stopping by in a little bit to talk about something. Would you put on a pot of green tea for them, Pekoe?"

* * *

When Hana and Yuzu arrived at the Sensha-do club cottage, they found two empty chairs set aside from them, along with a table with a pair of cups of green tea and, oddly, a small bowl of popcorn.

Darjeeling beckoned them to have a seat. "You wanted to meet with us?"

"Yes," said Yuzu, "lately I have had more memories come back to me of Ōarai. None of them seem particularly interesting, unless you want to know about our student council, but I thought you ought to know."

"Could it be some sort of strange amnesia, like in a TV drama or one of those foreign soap operas?" asked Assam. When the others looked at her, she continued, "When people in a soap opera get amnesia, they often recover their memory either by coming into contact with things that remind them of what they forgot, or they remember after they experience a sudden shock."

"Well," said Darjeeling, "Yuzu sounds like she started getting these memories because she started doing things that reminded her of what she was doing in the 'delusion', driving a tank."

"On the other hand, I just woke up in that garden," said Hana. "I got these strange memories well before I got to fire a cannon again."

"Yes, but I found you in the garden next to the tank garages and gunnery range during practice. It can get loud there, which is why we keep people away," said Rosehip.

"How do you know so much about these soap operas anyway?" asked Pekoe.

Assam blushed. "I… heard about it from a friend."

"Unless everyone in the world has gone mad, this isn't amnesia, and real amnesia doesn't seem that simple anyway," said Darjeeling. "But it's a useful hypothesis."

"Also," said Hana, "We were talking and, although we remain committed to the Flower Arrangement Society, we want to join or otherwise help the Sensha-Do club." They both bowed politely.

Darjeeling shot a quick 'I told you so' look at Assam and Rosehip while the two visitors had their eyes elsewhere.

"I understand your commitment to your responsibilities. We'd certainly like to see both your society and our team succeed for the good of St. Gloriana itself. Excepting any Ikebana commitments you may have, are you willing to work for the good of the team?"

"Yes," said Hana and Yuzu.

"And if your friend Yukari should show up again?" asked Rosehip.

"I will let you know immediately. While she is my friend, I'm sure she would understand," said Hana. "I learned that sometimes your opponents can also be your friends. We're all in the sport together, which means our opposition on the field doesn't impact our friendship off the field." Yuzu nodded in agreement.

"Before I officially invite you on to the team, there's one more thing I want to know," said Darjeeling. "Why do you two want to do Sensha-Do? It's a lot of work. As it is, you have a decent place for yourselves with the Flower Arrangement Society, even if you probably won't make the 'Tea Garden'."

Hana and Yuzu exchanged glances. The 'Tea Garden' was the elite of the elite at St. Gloriana, and its members and alumni controlled St. Gloriana's school culture. Neither had ever considered that they might have a place there, being 'outsiders' that fit Japanese ideals of ladylike behavior more than British ones.

"Firing the cannon again reminded me how exciting Sensha-Do was," said Hana. "While I enjoy Ikebana, I find that having an outside source of inspiration, especially one that plays to different emotions, helps me be more creative. Also, even teaching Ikebana, I find the social interaction lacking. There's something about team efforts that make them more worthwhile."

"I don't care about the 'Tea Garden'," said Yuzu, reading the political question hidden in Darjeeling's comment. "That's not why I'm asking to join. I want to join because Hana needs someone to keep her company. Besides, it will be different doing it as a regular team member rather than as part of the Student Council. Part of me wants to know if I have what it takes to make it without using that influence."

"Splendid! Welcome to the team," said Darjeeling. "We have an all hands meeting coming up, and we'll introduce you to everyone."

"Do either of you two know anything about BC Freedom High School?" asked Assam.

"No, I don't," said Yuzu. "Hana?"

"I know they also have some decent gardens, and their Flower Arrangement Society is not bad, but it's not quite up to the standards of the one at Maginot. Maginot's is almost as good as ours," supplied Hana. "I do have some names for their club's leader. I could try to arrange a visit and do what Yukari did."

"No, that won't be necessary," said Darjeeling. "We'll leave the spying to Saunders and Pravda."

"Do either of you know anything about Anzio Academy?" asked Assam. "I remember you saying one of your friends went there. Was it the radio operator?"

"Yes, Takebe Saori. I think she said she's in the Anzio Fashion Club. She thinks it will help her with getting a boyfriend," said Hana.

"Were most of their tanks little yellow ones? I think I remember them having a bunch of little yellow tanks and a big green tank," said Yuzu apologetically. "I'm still trying to remember the names."

"I think most of the little ones were CV33s. I remember that because I asked Yukari about them because I wanted to make a flower arrangement using one. I still think it would be cute," Hana added.

"Do you remember any of the people from Anzio?" asked Assam. "They sent three girls to the tournament opening ceremony." She called up a picture.

"I remember one with the drill hair is Anchovy, their commander. The other two are her assistants. The blonde one is... Hina something or other, also called Carpaccio. She was a friend of one of the girls in our History Club, and commanded a boxy one without a turret. The other one is Pepperoni, their best driver. She's a little over excited and leads their CV-33s." Hana recounted.

"That should be enough," said Darjeeling. "I don't expect we'll be facing them. Saunders will be up against them first round with your friend Yukari."

"Oh! That reminds me of something!" said Hana. "My memories say Yukari went to Anzio and took movies of their tanks. I think they had just got the big green one. Could it be a P40? Is that an Italian tank?"

"The Carro Armato P40 is an Italian tank," said Assam patiently. "I had heard they had been trying to get one, but I don't know if they succeeded."

"I'm more interested in the fact that Yukari infiltrated there before," said Darjeeling. "Do you think she's likely to go back?"

"I think she'd want to see Saori, just to confirm whether or not she remembers anything. Perhaps I should email Saori that she should be expecting a visitor from Saunders." Hana smiled, but, unusually for her, there was something mischievous in it. "Can you send me that picture you have of Yukari?"

Assam tapped a few keys on her laptop, and Hana's phone chimed a minute later. "Thanks! I'll send that out this afternoon."

Darjeeling adopted a studious pose. "Have you heard this saying: 'revenge is a dish best eaten cold'? Anzio can be surprisingly good at serving food out, I have noticed."

"So," said Yuzu, "how can Hana and I help our team?"

"We'd like to find a time to have you two practice with some of our new tanks. We have two tanks like the one you tested last week ready to go, and we'd like to work to find you a loader. Also, if Rosehip agrees to it, we have another project that you might be interested in, Hana. It would mean Rosehip finding another commander for the Crusaders after the next match. I leave the final decision to you, Rosehip, as you're the expert in these matters." Darjeeling looked at Rosehip expectantly.

"Even if all we get out of this is that one tank, it will be worth it with the right crew," said Rosehip. "I say full speed ahead."

"Aside from that, what are you two doing next week? We have the first round of the tournament coming up," asked Darjeeling.

"Ah, nothing we can't schedule around," said Yuzu. "You want us to watch the match with BC Freedom? See if we can learn something by watching?"

Assam raised her hand. "I don't think that's a good idea, Darjeeling. While it would be good to get them some experience, Kuromorimine will have people watching the footage of the match, especially of our team, and their video and photo analysis people will likely be going over any footage. Two new team members will be noticed." She turned to Hana and Yuzu, and explained, "That's why they don't bother to spy like Saunders or Pravda; they act more like a professional sports team and use more sophisticated methods to analyze the data."

From the other side of the room, where she had paused her popcorn eating, Pekoe spoke up. "Assam is very good, but she can't match a team of computer experts. Kuromorimine is really good at technical skills."

Darjeeling's eyes lit up. "I have an idea! Why don't you go watch your friend in her match against Anzio?"

Hana and Yuzu looked pleased at the idea.

Assam nodded her approval as well. "That would get you a good refresher on what happens by watching a match from the outside. And while Kuromorimine will likely review the footage of Saunders, they won't be looking at St. Gloriana's students, especially a pair that are only there to see their friend."

"Do you want us to try to get anything out of Yukari?" asked Hana.

"She's your friend. Go there to see her, not to spy," said Darjeeling. "However, there is one thing I would like to know. I would like you to tell me if you see anyone else you remember from Ōarai on the Saunders team. Would you be willing to do that?"

"I think that's fair," said Yuzu, and Hana nodded in agreement.

"Would you also be willing to bring back some more popcorn?" added Pekoe. "We're almost out."

* * *

Next: Part XVI: Anzio Vacation

Author's Note: I wanted to acknowledge that the Oarai Student Council did something wrong without dwelling on it or making them villains.


	16. Anzio Vacation

"Whose brilliant idea was this?" said Arisa from the radio operator's seat of the Saunders University High School C-47 as the plane prepared for landing on the Japanese mainland.

"From what I understand, it was your idea," replied Yukari from one of the passenger seats.

"I didn't mean it! It was a joke!" cried Arisa. "It's not too late to change plans!"

The Saunders Tankery transport team member in the Navigators seat for the flight smiled at the banter back and forth. While Arisa seemed angry, those who knew her knew that she wasn't seriously angry, and was just complaining because she wanted to complain.

"Now, Agents Oddball and Arisa, do you have everything you need for this mission?" asked Kay from the copilot's seat.

Yukari went over her mission gear. "One nondescript school bag, check. One school uniform, consisting of shirt, tie, skirt, beret, and tights, check. One cellphone with camera, fully charged, check. One improvised student emergency rations and bribe pack, consisting of twelve assorted candy bars and a canteen of water, check. One book, supplementary reading material, for the use of, Zhukov at the Oder: The Decisive Ba…."

"I hope you brought something for me to read, Yukari." Arisa interrupted. "Yeah, I have everything there, plus the makeup, a pair of glasses and an extra hair ribbon. Do you really think we're going to get anything useful from this? We're up against Anzio, after all."

"Come on, you two will have fun," supplied Naomi. "While you're enjoying Anzio's food, we'll be going over our own home field, after all, just in case we spot anything different."

"And then Karaoke," finished Kay.

"Ok, spending two nights with Yukari huddling on a supply ship is sounding like the better option," snarked Arisa, as the plane began its final approach.

After getting back from her breakdown, Yukari had found it easiest just to settle back into the rhythm of the team's normal activities. After all, those activities would help get her to a point where she could face Miho.

Aside from a couple of friendly questions about whether she was feeling better, nobody in the club made a big deal about it. Even Arisa cut back on the snark a bit.

She was feeling almost back to normal when the time came for the all-team planning meeting for the Anzio match.

"All right, everyone, we'll keep this short," began Kay. "As you know, the Anzio match is a ten on ten flag battle. Battle location will be our home field in Nagasaki Prefecture. At this point, I'm looking at taking two Sherman 76s, the Firefly, and seven regular Shermans. Arisa will have one 76 as our flag tank. We will be sending around the crew Order of Battle tomorrow. If you're not on it, I still expect to see you at upcoming practices. We will need all the help we can get against Pravda before taking the fight to Kuromorimine. Naomi, can you give us an update on the maintenance front?"

Naomi took center stage. "We have decided to spend the budget to bring some of the out of commission tanks into readiness. We have another Sherman M4A1(76)W ready to go, and given the even odds we'll be fighting Pravda in Hokkaido, we've also pulled a couple of the M4A3(75)Ws for activation. More importantly, we have two M4A3E2(76)W Sherman Jumbos we're going to activate as a present for Pravda. Both are currently damaged, and we don't quite know how badly, but if we can get them ready fast we may be able to add some more tanks. Intelligence team, you two ready?"

"Yeah," said Arisa, as she and Yukari mounted the stage. Arisa produced a laser pointer while Yukari worked the slide show. Arisa provided an overview of the likely Italian tanks, the CV33 tankettes, the CA M11/39, M13/40, and M14/41 'medium' tanks, the Siemovente 75/18 assault guns, and the Carro Armato P26/40 'heavy' tank.

"We think the P40 will likely be the command and flag tank. Again, it's roughly comparable to a Sherman in terms of mobility, firepower, and armor protection. If you see it, call out the position immediately. However, be prepared for the possibility of surprises. From what I've heard, Anzio has been buying up tanks lately."

A hand was raised in the audience. "Will Oddball be making another movie?"

"Oddball? You up for another movie?" asked Kay.

"I think I am," said Yukari, trying to keep her voice level.

"You can back out at any time if you change your mind. But we'll prepare for another movie night," said Kay.

Somebody in the audience started a chant of "Movie! Movie!" which was taken up by the crowd.

Kay raised her arms, silencing the crowd. "All right, dismissed!"

Two days later, the shipboard mail service delivered a plain brown package addressed to Arisa to the Tankery clubroom. Arisa accepted the package, checked the label, and called, "Yukari, your spy uniform is here!"

"I didn't order another one." Seeing Arisa's puzzled expression, she explained "Naomi said they'd added a 'Covert Operations' line to the budget, and she had me order uniforms for Anzio, as well as BC Freedom, Chihatan, Pravda, and Kuromorimine. The box came yesterday."

Curious, Arisa opened the package and pulled out a black beret. "It sure looks like an Anzio uniform."

Naomi entered the clubroom, "Arisa, you should be getting a... oh, it's here. Try it on!"

"What."

"I remember somebody saying something like 'next time I'll dress up and play spy' when we were checking out Ōarai," said Naomi, smiling. "Kay remembers it as well."

"What!?"

"See the sights, try the food! You said it would be more fun than hanging around with us," Naomi grinned. "Now try it on!"

"I'm not getting out of this, am I? Fine." She headed to the restroom to change, and came back in a properly fitting Anzio uniform. Naomi snapped a quick picture.

"This isn't going to work, you know. Yukari's relatively unknown, but Anchovy and some of her team know what I look like."

"So we'll find you a disguise," said Naomi.

"I'm not letting you do that, you'll come up with something hideous. Give me a second, I think there's something around here." Arisa grabbed something from one of the drawers of the planning desk, then went back to the restroom.

When she emerged from the restroom, Naomi and Yukari just stared at her.

"So, what do you think?" she asked.

Naomi lasted the longest before breaking out in laughter.

"Is... is that a pair of gag glasses? With... with a false nose?" said Yukari, literally rolling on the floor in amusement.

"You... stuffed something down your shirt? To enhance your chest?" said Naomi, trying to keep upright, and barely succeeding.

"Okay, fine. Let's see what you can do," Arisa pouted, pulling her rolled up socks out of her shirt.

Yukari recovered, and stood back up. "First, get changed. Then... let's talk to my parents."

"Hello!" said Kay, as she stepped onto the volleyball court during a pause in the volleyball team's practice.

"Hi Kay!" called out the team captain. "We're at a decent point to take a break. What did you want to see me about?"

"I wanted to see if it was possible to learn to serve or loft something like a volleyball." Kay pulled a smoke flare from her bag, and handing it to the girl.

"It's oddly shaped," the team captain said. "It is light, though. I suppose you could hit it like a volleyball, though. Why not just throw it?"

"I want it to go in a decent arc, and I think I'd do better hitting it like a volleyball."

The team captain smacked it over the net, where one of the other girls knocked it back on instinct.

"We've got our own tournament coming up, but I can loan you one of the girls from the bench." She turned to a group of girls watching the practice. "Hey, Noriko! Can you spare a few minutes?"

"Sure can," the girl called. Kay caught her mumbling under her breath, "…not like I'm doing anything else."

Kay explained what she wanted to do.

"You want to know the best way to accurately serve one of these?" Noriko asked, then called "Shinobu!" When another girl on the bench looked up, she called, "Get one of the volleyball bins and empty it out, then drag it over there," and pointed.

Noriko proceeded to serve a few flares from Kay's bag towards the bin, eventually landing a few. She then demonstrated the technique to Kay while one of the other girls recovered the flares. Kay then tried serving the flare, only to have it go wildly off target.

"It's not as easy as it looks," lectured Noriko. "But I think you have the motions down. If you want more coaching, I'm sure the captain won't mind me helping you out again."

Kay thanked the girl for her help, and headed off to see if Arisa's package had arrived.

"Hi, Dad!" called Yukari, as she entered her parents barber shop.

"Hi Yukari! Have you brought more friends?" said her father. Akiyama Jungorou had quickly adapted to the fact that his daughter now had friends, and no longer acted embarrassing around them. It had helped that his shop had become the unofficial team hair salon.

"Dear, don't bug them. I'm sure they want to be left alone," said her mother.

"Actually, dad, we need your professional help. This is Arisa," said Yukari, as Arisa stepped forward.

Jungorou, suddenly serious, looked the girl over with a professional eye. "Hmm... tricky. What are you aiming for?"

"We need her to look different. So someone that doesn't know her very well, but has a picture of her, won't recognize her," said Naomi.

"We could dye her hair. Blonde dye is popular around here." Jungorou was surprised how often he had to reorder the blonde dye.

"No dye," said Arisa. "Besides, blonde would especially stick out."

"Sticking out is part of the point. If they're looking at what sticks out, they're not looking at your face," Yukari's father lectured. "Do you mind if I try something?" When Arisa indicated he could go ahead, he managed to pull her pigtails back into something like a short ponytail, which he then secured with a length of red and dark blue fabric tied into a large bow. "There, that should match your school uniform."

"I think a black bow would work better," said Kay, standing in the doorway.

"Kei! Nice of you to stop by!" said Yukari's mother, who had been watching her husband from the door to the Akiyama's apartment. "Sorry to interrupt, dear, but you're forgetting something if she wants to change her appearance: makeup."

Yoshiko Akiyama waited until her husband stepped aside, then approached Arisa. "Your freckles really stand out, I'm not going to use too much, just enough to cover them up." A few deft motions later, Arisa was looking at her reflection in the mirror.

"That's certainly... different," she said. "I agree about needing a black bow, though."

"One last thing," said Yoshiko. She stepped into the apartment proper, and returned with a battered glasses case. "These are my old glasses. I wear contacts now, and have a newer pair anyways. My prescription is very mild, so they shouldn't interfere with your vision too much." She bent the frame a little, and placed them on Arisa.

Naomi looked at Arisa, and gave a thumbs up. "Most of the team would have serious trouble recognizing you."

"Thanks dad, mom. I have something to do for the team for a couple of days, so I'll be staying with... friends." Yukari smiled.

Kay and Naomi likewise thanked the pair. Arisa just blushed.

"Have fun you all!" called her mother. "Come back any time, Arisa!"

From the Akiyama barbershop, the group headed to the store to pick up black ribbons for Arisa's hair and some extra makeup. Next, they headed to the Tankery club garages to pick up the Anzio uniforms. Kay took the opportunity to have Arisa test the Discipline Club guards on the garage, and then had to step in and bail Arisa out when the guards wouldn't let her in.

"Well," said Kay, "we've got a couple of hours before we need to leave for the flight, so it's off to the theater for movie night. To keep with the theme, I got an Italian film."

"Sometimes your taste in movies confuses me, Kay. I think I'd rather do my homework," said Arisa.

"I thought we had switched to a Clint Eastwood theme with Kelly's Heroes?" asked Naomi.

Kay grinned. "It's both, actually. The movie club loaned us Sergio Leone's Per un Pugno di Dollari, also known as For a Fistful of Dollars, starring Clint Eastwood. Sure, it's a rip-off of Yojimbo, but it's an Italian movie."

Author's Note: Yukari infiltration mission, with Arisa! What could possibly go wrong? Careful readers will note a couple of Girls und Panzer: Motto Love Love Sakusen desu references have now popped up.


	17. Western Spaghetti

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XVII: Western Spaghetti

by Civilis

* * *

"What's with the architecture around here?" asked Arisa, shortly after the pair had exited the stairwell leading up from the cargo docks and onto Anzio's main deck.

"Anzio was founded with help from a large a donation by a fan of Italian culture," Yukari informed her. "They built replicas of a lot of Roman landmarks. There should be more info in that booklet I gave you to read on the boat trip."

"When I asked for a book, that wasn't what I meant." Arisa pulled the guide booklet from her pocket. "It says nothing in here about canals, anyways."

"That's Venice." Yukari stopped to look at the artificial waterway they were walking along. "And that's a river, not a canal. An artificial one, at any rate. It's supposed to represent the Tiber."

"Then why is there a girl sculling a gondola?" Arisa pointed to the girl in the river below.

Yukari took the book. "It says that the river is used by the Anzio Rowing Club, and that the club teaches both conventional rowing as well as traditional Italian styles. Apparently, members get to go to Venice for a club trip," she read. "Looks like the river runs into their Tankery range."

"We could just follow that," said Arisa.

"Last time the Tankery club had the P40 in the Coliseum when I visited. Besides, we have time. No need for their Discipline Committee to take notice of us." The two passed a girl with both the Discipline Committee armband as well as a white belt worn over the shoulder.

"I don't think they'll just have the tanks out where anyone can see them," said Arisa.

As if on cue, a CV33 tankette with a box attached to its rear deck drove past them. "Then again..."

The tankette stopped in front of one of the class buildings, and the commander hopped out and retrieved a flat box from the larger box in back, then took it inside.

"Did I just see them using a tankette to deliver pizza?" Arisa asked. The observation was confirmed a few minutes later, when another box-equipped CV33 was seen delivering a bag of sandwiches. "I suppose it makes sense, especially now that they're not really usable in tournaments."

"There's one without a box," said Yukari, pointing to a regular CV33 parked at the loading dock of one of the larger school buildings.

Arisa took the map. "That's the drama club. Want to check it out?"

Not spotting any patrolling Discipline Committee Carabinieri, Yukari and Arisa ducked into one of the rear doors of the drama club, to find themselves backstage at a theater. The backstage was deserted, but noise could be heard coming from the direction of where the loading dock was.

"Should we just walk on in?" asked Yukari.

"Get you camera out and get it running, but try to keep it hidden," said Arisa. She took a clipboard from a nail on the wall. "Follow me," she said, gesturing to a pair of double doors.

Arisa shoved open one of the doors as if she belonged there, and Yukari followed behind, camera cupped behind her hand as she twisted it around to try to take in the room. The room was a prop room. Several groups of students were working on assembling wooden frames. One of the frames, a smaller one, looked complete, and had been draped with cloth. One group of students was painting the cloth-covered frame like a tank, complete with wheels and tracks, based on a picture next to them.

One of the girls walked up to Arisa. Before she could say anything, Arisa held up the clipboard so its back was to the girl. "I'm here for the paperwork for the Student Council," Arisa said, in a bored voice.

"What paperwork?" the prop maker asked.

"The budget paperwork."

"The club president has that. She's probably at lunch."

"Figures," said Arisa. She turned to Yukari, careful to conceal the clipboard's contents. "Come on," she finished, and left the room, Yukari behind her.

Once the door had closed behind them, Arisa hung the clipboard back on the wall, and made for the door. Looking outside and seeing nobody giving them any attention, she and Yukari calmly walked away from the building, stopping when they reached the sidewalk safely.

"Doing all the team's paperwork taught me a few things about paperwork," said Arisa. "And either they're doing a Tankery themed version of Romeo and Juliet, or we've found out something. This trip may be worthwhile after all."

"They used decoys against us last time," Yukari informed her. "Although these seem more sophisticated. The ones I saw were 2D."

"These seem to be collapsible. The wood and cloth construction make them totally legal. I tried using an inflatable decoy against St. Gloriana last year, but the judges ruled the air blower to be against the rules, and I'm not spending time with a hand pump."

Yukari looked at the map. "Where to next?"

Arisa's stomach growled. "I think we should head to lunch."

"There were a lot of food stalls in the Piazza in front of the Coliseum, and I think that's where the Tankery club will be."

* * *

"Well, we definitely found the Tankery club," said Arisa.

Yukari was busy counting the tanks parked in front of the Coliseum as she filmed the area from the other side of the Piazza. "I see two CV33 tankettes, two M14/41 light tanks, and two Semovente 75/18 assault guns," she narrated. "And it looks like we can just walk right up. They have some club members standing around, but there are students right up next to them with their lunch. There are even tourists!"

"Where do you want to get food?" Arisa asked, looking longingly at all the stalls.

"As you can see," Yukari continued her narration and filming, "the Anzio Tankery Team has a stall decorated with a tank in the middle of the Piazza. If you're ever in Anzio, the Anzio Special is excellent. And Pepperoni, the lead Tankette driver, is their best cook. She's also not very tight lipped."

"Quit your narration and come on, I'm hungry." Arisa started off towards the visible landmark, and Yukari followed.

The pair made their way through the aisles between the stalls towards the tank replica visible on top of the Sensha-do club's stall. When they got there, Yukari was disappointed to see that Pepperoni wasn't at the stall. "Where's the girl that's normally here?" she asked the girl manning the counter.

"Ah, she's at the event in the Coliseum with the Duce. We can serve you."

Arisa, hungry, approached the stall to buy food, any food, but stopped short. "What's that smell?" she said, her nose wrinkling in disgust.

"Ah, that's the History Club. You can buy the food here and go elsewhere," the girl said, her eyes begging for someone to buy something.

Yukari, though, was interested by something else. "The History Club? Where is their stall?"

The girl pointed to their left. "Three stalls down around the corner, big red sign saying SPQR. You can't miss it, or the stench."

Yukari grabbed Arisa, who had been about to buy something despite the smell, and headed down to the History Club's stall.

Behind them, the Tankery Club's counter girl said, "Are you really going to choose the History Club over us?"

Three stalls down, Yukari stopped in front of a counter manned by a familiar girl with a red heavy red scarf draped over her Anzio uniform. Behind her, working the stove, grill, and preparation table were a girl with a German military officer's hat, a girl with a red Hachimaki headband, and a girl with a kimono jacket draped over her uniform.

"You!" shouted the girl behind the counter, pointing at Yukari. "You look like someone that could use a History Club Special Lunch." The other girls, excited to have a customer, turned to watch.

Arisa, who had gone increasingly green, looked at the stall. "What is the History Club Special Lunch?"

"Sashimi and Spätzle over Yakisoba on top of a bed of croutons, parmesan cheese, egg, anchovies, and romaine lettuce."

"Ok, I have definitely lost my appetite," Arisa whispered, as she tried to hold down her candy bar breakfast.

"You guys look like you take your history seriously," grinned Yukari, who could stomach most military rations and thus wasn't as put off. "Let me guess. You're Gaius Julius Caesar. The one with the hat and fox hair is Erwin Rommel. The red Hachimaki has six coins on it, so you're Sanada Nobushige, also known as Saemonza. And the Haori jacket is rather vague, but I'm going to say you're Narasaki Ryō, wife of Sakamoto Ryōma, also known as Oryou. Did I get it right?"

"Wow," said Erwin.

"You know our soul names," Saemonza said, smiling. "What's yours?"

"Me?" said Yukari. "I'm Heinz Guderian, and this behind me is Creighton Abrams."

Erwin nodded in recognition at the names, but didn't seem to recognize Yukari herself.

"Well, Heinz," said Caesar, "would you like a Special Lunch on the house?"

"I think I'll pass. Nice to meet you, though. My friend needs to find a place to sit down." Yukari led a gasping Arisa upwind.

Once she had recovered her breath, Arisa turned to Yukari. "Let me guess, you know those four?"

"Yeah, they were the History Club at Ōarai. They crewed a StuG III. Erwin nicknamed me Guderian, and since they don't recognize it, I think they're like Yuzu in that they don't remember Ōarai."

"I need food," said Arisa.

Yukari stopped a pair of girls walking past. "My friend and I can't agree on where to get lunch. What has the best food?"

One thought for a second, before answering "There's always the Fashion Club. Their spaghetti is great."

"Are they near the History Club?" asked Arisa.

They both nodded in understanding. "No, they're down at the other end," one pointed.

"That's fine. Spaghetti sounds good," Arisa grabbed Yukari's hand and began dragging her off for food.

It didn't take them long to find the Fashion Club's stall. It had a line, but Yukari's attempt to look for someplace else was met with a "No. We're here and we're not moving or else you'll find another old friend or something and I won't get to eat," from a starving Arisa.

They were halfway through the line when Yukari turned to Arisa and said quietly, "You're in luck. I found another friend here. The girl working the stove is my friend Saori."

"Seriously?" groaned Arisa, looking into the stall. "She seems busy. We'll come back after we eat, check the tanks out front and look in the Coliseum."

Yukari ended up with a nice plate of spaghetti with a side of butternut squash risotto and roasted garlic. She ate as she walked over to the tanks parked out in front of the Coliseum. Several team members were pointing out the features of the tanks to the Anzio students and occasional tourists. Yukari took the opportunity to take some more video. When she finished her lunch, she had Arisa watch the tankers while she took close ups of some of the more useful areas, like the interior, engine, and tracks.

"We might learn something from this," said Arisa, "but these aren't particularly good tanks. I want to see what else they have. Sounds like there's something big going on in the Coliseum. Let's take a look."

The pair trudged up the stairs. As they reached the top, they managed to make out a canned, tinny voice saying "...and become sound and beautiful women, in mind and body" while an old film of a Panzer III played on a screen set up in the center of the Coliseum. Most of the girls seated in the temporary stands were paying little attention to the old school-produced documentary intended to get girls to take up Sensha-Do, instead eating gelato being distributed by Sensha-do team members.

"It looks like it's just an old filmstrip," commented Arisa. "Still, we can sit down and eat ice cream." She caught sight of Yukari. "Are you filming this?"

Yukari nodded. In the other timeline, while Anzio had used the Coliseum to show off, they had just had shown the one tank. Here, it looked like they had gone all out, despite being one of the poorest Sensha-Do teams and despite having just purchased enough tanks to get into the tournament. Perhaps they were making money from delivering food?

The film came to an end, and was replaced by Anzio's logo, a pizza, on a red, white and green background. Suddenly, there was a burst of feedback from the speakers set up next to the stage, followed by a booming, amplified voice saying "Girls of Anzio! The Sensha-Do Team Needs You!"

"Oh!" exclaimed Yukari, recognizing the voice. "It's Anchovy! This should be fun to watch. She's always good at playing the crowd."

The girl with the massive gray twin drill tailed hairdo walked to the center of the stage. She was wearing her dark gray Sensha-Do outfit with riding pants, and carrying a riding crop. She strolled to the center of the stage, and extended her hands towards the crowd.

Someone in the crowd started with a call of "Duce! Duce!", and soon most of the crowd of students had joined in.

"Enough!" cried Duce Anchovy, and the crowd went silent. "They say that we at Anzio have nothing but grace and diligence. They say we have no strength. They say we can't compete at Tankery with rich schools like St. Gloriana or Pravda. Next week, when we face Saunders, we will prove them wrong."

The crowd broke out in cheering. Anchovy let it go on for a minute or so.

"Enough!" cried Duce Anchovy again when the cheering started to die down, and the crowd again went silent. "In order to fight, in order to win, Anzio needs your help. We need girls, no, women. Women who can fight. We will be looking for volunteers for the team. Anzio... needs you."

The crowd started cheering again. Arisa tapped Yukari on the shoulder. "Who's that with the cape?" she said, trying to keep it low but audible.

"Where?"

"Down to the right of the stage. Regular Anzio uniform, plus cape. Has half a pair of glasses." Arisa pointed.

Yukari knew one girl that wore half a pair of glasses, and that was Kawashima Momo, the former Ōarai Student Council PR manager. Sure enough, the familiar scowling visage was talking to another girl working the stage video controls. Momo had been a competent manager at Oarai, and certainly knew PR. Her presence could explain how Anzio had more money.

"That's our old Student Council PR Manager," said Yukari, struggling to make herself heard.

"From Ōarai?" Arisa asked, also trying to make sure she could be heard.

As timings go, what happened next was a perfect storm. On stage, Duce Anchovy once again called out "Enough!" and the crowd yet again went silent.

In the lull, Yukari told Arisa, "Yes, from Ōarai. It looks like she put on a little weight." It wasn't loud enough that too many people heard it, but in this case it only took one.

Before Anchovy could start back up, a louder voice, recognizable to Yukari as that of Takebe Saori, former Ōarai student and sensitive about her weight, came from right behind the pair. "What? I'm not going to take that from a filthy pair of Saunders spies!"

Anchovy stopped, jaw and hands frozen in mid word. The entire audience turned to look.

Yukari turned to Arisa. "Run."

* * *

Next: Part XVIII: The Anzio Job

Author's Note: I love the detail in the Anzio OVA episode. If you have a chance, take a look at the part of the episode when they pan past the Sensha-Do team's food stall.


	18. The Anzio Job

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XVIII: The Anzio Job

by Civilis

* * *

Takebe Saori was having a very bad day. When Ōarai had closed, she had managed to talk her parents into letting her go to Anzio Academy, despite the extra cost, and despite the fact it would separate her from her friend Hana, because she had heard Anzio was the best school to go to if you wanted to get a boyfriend.

At Anzio, she sought out the Fashion Club. This was also supposed to make you better at getting a boyfriend, but most of the girls just seemed to sit around and talk. Then they found out she was a good cook, and, at Anzio, cooking was the way clubs got money, so they got her to cook. This endeared her to the Fashion Club's members, but since they weren't boys, she didn't care. It did mean she spent time working the Fashion Club's stall on the Piazza, which made the stall popular, which made more work for her. About the only saving grace was that the Fashion Club was very good about letting their best cook take breaks.

The other problem was the food. Anzio had great food, some of it prepared by her. However, food didn't like her waistline. She spent a lot of time working to keep the weight off. It probably helped that Hana, who ate more than Saori and somehow never gained a centimeter or a kilo, was no longer around to be a bad example.

Hana emailed occasionally. At first, she emailed about flowers, which Hana cared about more than Saori. Then she started emailing about tanks, which made no sense for Hana and which Saori cared about less than flowers. Finally, an odd email came a couple days before from Hana. Hana had mentioned that a friend of hers from Saunders might be visiting Anzio, and included the name Akiyama Yukari and a picture.

Today had started out merely bad. Their other main cook had said she was sick. The stall was crowded because of the extra people in the Piazza to see the Sensha-Do club and because the History Club had come up with something truly awful, driving business to them from their competitors on the Sensha-Do team.

And then she spotted the fluffy hair of the girl identified by Hana in the line at her stall, talking to a smaller girl with glasses and a black bow in her hair. However, the girl in question was wearing an Anzio uniform. Further, at one point, out of the corner of her eye, she caught this Yukari girl pointing at her and saying something. When the girls had gotten their food and left, she caught the attention of one of the other Fashion Club cooks sitting at the back of the stall.

"I'm going to take a break. We should have enough for the rest of the lunch rush. Just stir the risotto every so often to keep it even," she said, and headed off to find the girls.

It was quick to track down the fluffy hair and the black bow. They were standing around the tanks, taking pictures. When the Sensha-Do club members minding the tanks looked away, they became more furtive and took a lot more pictures.

They then headed in to the big Sensha-Do recruitment meeting. The Sensha-Do Team was desperate for new members. They also claimed to be a good way to get a boyfriend, but Saori had grown cynical about such claims. Still, Duce Anchovy, the team captain, could be counted on for some entertainment, and perhaps spies could learn something from watching her. She followed them in.

Anchovy started her recruitment pitch. In it was news, at least to Saori, that they had a match coming up against Saunders, which explained the spies. She spotted them watching Anchovy, and crept up behind them. They were discussing something. She thought she heard Ōarai; perhaps they were discussing her for some reason? Obviously, they knew her from Hana.

She crept closer. Duce Anchovy silenced the crowds. She heard, "Yes, from Ōarai. It looks like she put on a little weight." She responded. One said "Run".

And, now, an angry mob was chasing them from the Coliseum.

* * *

It took a few moments for the stunned crowd to react to the report of spies in their midst. It would likely have been treated as a joke, except for the fact that Yukari and Arisa, with the reaction time of veteran tankers, immediately ran for the stairs down to the Piazza.

They had almost reached the bottom of the stairs when cries of "Get them!" reached the tankers showing off the tanks at the edge of the Coliseum. They didn't know what the two girls running from the mob had done, but they were willing to try to stop them. Between the crowd of onlookers and the angry looking tankers, ahead wasn't an option for Yukari and Arisa. They both chose left.

"We can't outrun them all," said Yukari.

"We won't need to!" said Arisa, and she pointed to a parked CV33, open so the onlookers could see inside.

With desperation born of panic, they both leapt into the crew compartment, Arisa shut the hatch, Yukari started the engine, and off they went.

It was at this point that Yukari, driving, realized she didn't know how to drive a CV33. She would have to fake it. Vendors and patrons alike jumped aside as the stolen tankette careened through the Piazza, smashing through stalls. By some stroke of luck, it managed to hit the History Club stand head on moments after the club members leapt aside, wrecking the stove and scattering ingredients.

Meanwhile, the Anzio tankers, seeing their quarry speeding away, immediately manned the remaining CV33 and one of the M14 light tanks and headed off. Being familiar with the tanks, they carefully steered around the stalls in the Piazza, giving their quarry a head start.

But their quarry had its own problems. "The map! Hand me the map!" yelled Yukari.

"I thought you had the map!" yelled Arisa.

The tankette's radio sparked to life. "All Anzio tankers, be on the lookout for a pair of Saunders spies in a stolen CV33," said Anchovy. "The occupants are... here, you take the mic."

* * *

Saori had not followed the mob after the spies. She, a couple of bemused looking tourists that had wandered in, and the Anzio command team were all that were left in the Coliseum.

"You there, come here," called Anchovy from the stage, amplified by the mic on her lapel. Saori turned to see the commander pointing at her. She made her way down to the stage area.

Anchovy was giving orders to the team members. "Carpaccio, get one of the Semoventes out front and join the search. Pepperoni, get the command car. Momo, grab the sound system. You there, what's your name?"

"Uh... I'm Saori."

"Good work on spotting those spies. You got a good look at them, so come with me while we track them down. We will need a description."

The girl with the short black hair in the Tankery uniform, Pepperoni, drove a staff car around from behind the screen. The girl in the regular uniform with the cape and carrying the sound system, Momo, got in front. Anchovy got in back, and Saori reluctantly followed her. Pepperoni stepped on the gas, and the car screamed out of the Coliseum.

Momo handed a box with a lot of switches on it to Saori. "Can you work the radio?"

It didn't look too hard. Saori set the radio to broadcast.

Anchovy said "All Anzio tankers, be on the lookout for a pair of Saunders spies in a stolen CV33, the occupants are... here, you take the mic," and she handed the mic to Saori.

"One occupant has very fluffy hair, the other has glasses and a black bow in her hair" Saori managed to get out.

"This is Pizza 4," came a call. "I think I see them headed down Via Del Condotti towards the bow."

"This is Carpaccio," came another voice. "I think we have another problem."

A Semovente 75/18 suddenly cut off the staff car. Saori could just make out a familiar looking girl with a red scarf around her neck leaning out of the top hatch, shouting directions.

The History Club had not taken the destruction of their stall lightly. Having a club member with at least a theoretical knowledge of armored warfare, they had proceeded to borrow one of the two parked Semovente assault guns and had driven off after the culprit, and in the process wrecked another half a dozen stalls that had been spared in the initial carnage.

Pepperoni honked her horn at the wildly swerving assault gun as the untrained driver proceeded to lumber in the general direction of where the enemy might be.

"This is Pizza 2," came another call. "Pizza 1 and I have blocked the road. We're going to force them into the Circus Maximus."

Another call came in on a different frequency. "This is Tank 1. We are at the column. What's the situation?

Saori activated the radio. "Tank 1, Pizza 4 is persuing the spies up Via Del Condotti to where Pizza 1 and 2 have a roadblock at the Circus Maximus."

"Tank 1 on the way."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the stolen tankette, Yukari was trying to remember where the stairs down to the loading docks were when Arisa yelled "Turn! Roadblock!" Yukari managed to pull a hard left just before the pair of tankettes parked in the road, which sent their tankette down a ramp and onto a rather ancient looking dirt track in a general oval shape.

"This isn't the road," said Yukari. Seconds later, she caught sight of a M14 tank descending another ramp leading to the track and heading towards her.

"We have company!" called Arisa, looking behind them as a careening delivery tankette rammed the back of their tankette, causing Yukari to lose control temporarily. She regained control just in time to pull the tank to the other side of the track, allowing the pursuing tankette to hit the tank coming toward them on the track. Their tankette skidded off the side of the oval track, but remained in motion. Meanwhile, the delivery CV33 went under the oncoming M14, causing the M14 to land on its side, and the CV33 to crunch into a wall, bits of pizza flying everywhere.

"All tanks," came Saori's voice on the radio, "The spies are in the Circus Maximus. We need units at the port and aft ramps to complete the trap."

"We need to get out of here!" yelled Arisa.

"Which ramp is which?" yelled Yukari back. She tried the nearest ramp, only to discover an oncoming Semovente with an imperious Caesar ordering it forwards towards them. She managed to stop the tankette and threw it into reverse down the ramp, just ahead of the assault gun charging towards them.

"Get them!" ordered Caesar.

"I'm trying!" came Oryou's voice from the driver's seat. "This isn't as easy as it looks. Doesn't this thing have a gun?"

"There's no ammo, and the weapon is safetied," came Saemonza's reply from the back.

Ahead of them Yukari managed to get the tank turned around, and zipped off back down the track just ahead of the charging History Club in the assault gun.

"Try the next ramp!" Arisa called. Yukari threw the tankette into a turn, only to find the other Semovente parked at the top of the ramp.

"There's a gap!" called Yukari.

"Are you crazy? We can't fit through that?" replied Arisa.

"We're about to get rammed! No other choice! Now, lean!" Yukari and Arisa both threw themselves in the direction of the turn as Yukari aimed for the gap between the Semovente and the wall. The tankette shifted and went up on one track. Its other track ended up scraping along the side of the parked Semovente, as the tankette squeezed past.

Carpaccio had a moment to lock eyes with her friend Caesar before both dropped into the crew compartments of their assault guns. Oryou at least had the presence of mind to try to stop the tank before impact, but both tanks would need recovery.

"This is Pizza 1. Tank 1, Pizza 4, and both Semoventes are out of commission. Spies are heading up Via Lata toward the starboard side and are almost at Titus Arch. Pizza 1, 2 and 3 in pursuit."

"Pizza units, you can try to cut up Via di San Gregorio or Via Sistina to get past them," Saori replied on the radio. Her attempts at exercise included jogging, so she knew the street layout pretty well.

"Pizza 3 here, they seem to be lost. I have no idea where they are goi... they just cut over onto Via Sistina."

Anchovy leaned over the front seat of the car. "Pepperoni, take me to the garages. We're going to end this."

In the stolen tankette, Yukari and Arisa tried to make sense of the school's layout. "I thought I saw that arch before," said Arisa, "but I think we're lost again. This is totally new."

"There's a CV ahead!" cried Yukari. "I'm going to fake trying to squeeze through on the right, then cut left!"

"Don't cut left!" cried Arisa, as she caught a glimpse of what was to the left, but it was too late. The tank plunged down the replica Spanish Steps, clattering unhealthily all the way. Another CV-33, boldly enough, followed them down. Somehow Yukari managed to maintain control and was able to turn away in time, but the pursuing CV lost control and skidded into the fountain at the bottom.

Saori's voice came from the tankette's radio, "The spies just went down the Spanish Steps. Do not follow, cut around to Via del Babuino or Via di Propaganda."

"I recognize something ahead! It's the Tankery garages!" called Arisa, as the tankette weaved through the narrow streets. "If we're going to get caught, let's make it worthwhile! Make a left!"

Seeing nothing better to do, Yukari complied, and the tankette swerved through the open gates into the Sensha-Do training area.

"Look for anything useful!" called Arisa, as she opened the hatch and stood up to look around. "I don't think they've caught up to where we are!"

"Well, we can confirm they have a P40," said Yukari, as they curved around the garages.

"Where?"

"Up ahead."

Arisa turned back to the front, to see the P40 sitting on the field ahead of them.

The radio came to life with Anchovy's voice. "...broadcast. Ahem. We have the spies cornered at the Sensha-do garages, and are engaging."

"Uh-oh," said the two Saunders spies.

* * *

Saori braced as the Anzio staff car stopped in front of one of the open garages with a large, green tank parked in it. A tanker was already sitting in the driver's seat, starting the engine.

Anchovy hopped out, followed shortly by Pepperoni. Saori and Momo, not knowing what to do, stayed in the car.

"Pepperoni, take the CV over there, it has practice ammo," Duce Anchovy ordered. "Saori, get in the front of the tank and use the radio there. Momo, follow me into the turret."

Pepperoni dashed off to the tankette and quickly started it up. Saori headed to the tank, where the driver directed her to the radio operator position. Momo hesitantly followed Anchovy.

"I don't know anything about tanks! I'm just PR!" Momo protested.

"You can at least load the gun," said Anchovy as she climbed in.

Momo, protesting, followed her into the tank, which shortly thereafter headed out into the practice yard.

"Now we just need to find out where they are," said Anchovy.

"I see a CV 33 in the yard!" yelled the driver.

Saori, looking out the hatch, could just make out the fluffy hair and the glasses and black bow of the two startled spies. "It's them!" she called.

Duce Anchovy ordered "Saori, hand me the mic and set it to broadcast." Saori had the mic in Anchovy's hand and the radio transmitting before she finished the sentence. "Ahem. We have the spies cornered at the Sensha-do garages, and are engaging."

Anchovy took aim and fired at the CV33 as it swerved.

* * *

The shot from the P40 went right over Arisa's and Yukari's heads as they dropped into the crew compartment. A moment later the back of the desperately evading tankette was hit by a burst of machinegun fire from a CV33 that pulled in behind them from the garages.

Anchovy's voice came again, "Chase them down, I'll get them to surrender. Momo, load another ro..." before the radio stopped transmitting.

Yukari looked behind them to see Anchovy out of the hatch of the pursuing P40, yelling something at them. Ahead, the armed CV33 waited in front of the gates, which some of the mechanic team were closing.

"I see the river over there!" called Arisa, looking through a side viewslit. "We can try running along the riverbank or through the shallows."

Yukari steered in that direction, but Anchovy would still know the terrain better. They needed a distraction. "Arisa, hand me the mic and set to transmit."

* * *

In the P40, Saori heard the radio come on, and a new yet somehow familiar voice said, "Saori! I didn't say you had put on weight, I said Momo had put on weight!"

From the turret of the tank came a furious "What!?", followed by the sound of Momo scrambling to the vacant gunner's sight.

The shot from the P40's cannon landed right behind the speeding tankette with the spies, knocking the tankette forward into the river. Somehow, the tankette skipped across the surface of the shallow and calm artificial river towards the opposite bank, where it landed smoothly and drove off into the foliage of the range.

Pepperoni's voice came on the radio. "I knew it! I told you that would work! Send me after them!" The Anzio tankette headed towards the river in the same manner.

Behind her, Saori could hear the sounds of Momo shoving another shell into the gun, and Anchovy crying out "Momo! You missed! What are you doing?" from above.

"I'll get you this time!" cried Momo, as the P40 fired again. This time, she hit the tankette she was shooting at, sending it skipping across the river, but wrecking the engine. It landed on its side, and Pepperoni climbed out of the crew compartment. She stood up and waved at the P40 joyfully, before collapsing onto the riverbank.

* * *

Yukari stopped the tankette in the woods a bit further along the river, concealed by the trees.

"What's wrong?" asked Arisa.

"They're going to be looking for the tankette," she replied, before pointing at a gondola on the shore nearby.

Arisa yanked the ribbon out of her hair, and pulled out a pair of rubber bands, which she used to return her hair to normal. She stuffed the glasses in her pocket, and rubbed off the makeup. "You hide in the gondola, I'll try to row."

The final part of their escape from Anzio proved anticlimactic. The two made their way downstream via gondola, watching the searching tankettes driving around the streets around them. They quietly made their way on foot to the unguarded stairwell leading to the cargo docks and slipped back off Anzio for the trip home.

* * *

Next: Part XIX: Anzio Needs Women!

Author's Note: I told you this wouldn't go well. For writing this, I had a map and guide to Rome and the Anzio episode all open nearby.


	19. Anzio Needs Women!

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XIX: Anzio Needs Women!

by Civilis

* * *

"Looks like your reconnaissance mission has completed successfully!" Kay said, as the Saunders C-47 touched down on the Saunders School Carrier's runway and taxied to a stop.

"Yep, complete success," groaned an exhausted Arisa, from the passenger seats in the back. A moment later, she added, completely unconvincingly, "absolutely nothing went wrong. Right, Oddball?"

Yukari, like her fellow intelligence officer, looked to be completely worn out. "Huh? Right. Everything went according to plan."

As she shut down the plane's engines, Naomi said "you know, we will find out what you two aren't telling us."

Before any of the plane's passengers could so much as unbuckle their belts, there was the metallic thunk of a ladder hitting the plane's fuselage, the door was opened from outside, and half a dozen members of the Saunders Tankery Team's Transport Section ground crew had boarded the plane and gone straight for Yukari.

"Oddball! You were awesome!" one said, shaking Yukari's hand.

"Please tell us you got video, pictures, anything!" another one called.

Kay looked at the pair. "Arisa, Yukari. One of you had better have an explanation for this."

* * *

"One of you had better have an explanation for this!" shouted Anchovy, Duce and commander of Anzio Academy's Sensha-Do team, as she paced behind her desk. She threw her hands in the air, and screamed "this is crazy!"

A dozen Anzio tankers stared at the floor, unwilling to even risk their Duce's wrath. Most showed signs of minor injuries such as scrapes, bruises, black eyes, and ice packs. Nearby were the four colorful members of the school's History Club, likewise injured, and likewise unwilling to risk the girl's anger. The team's manager, Momo, was crying, although more in shock at the stack of damage reports from the previous day's catastrophe than in fear. Only one girl in the room, Takebe Saori of the Fashion Club, didn't seem afraid, as she considered herself an innocent bystander dragged into the whole mess.

At the front of the room, Duce Anchovy resumed her pacing. "We're down a tank, two assault guns, and six tankettes. We've received bills for damages from more than a dozen clubs that had their food stalls in the Piazza run over. Our main source of income, delivering food via tankette, is temporarily banned by Student Council decree, and half of our delivery tankettes are among those wrecked. And the Student Council is also pissed because someone dumped a CV into the replica Fontana della Barcaccia and somehow made it uglier!" One of the tankers tried to make herself even smaller.

She slammed her riding crop into her desk. "And why? Because of a pair of idiot spies from Saunders! It's not enough that they're rich! We had to scrape every penny we could get to get enough tanks for the Nationals, and then they go and wreck them. And they won't understand because the damage they caused is probably less than Kay's daily snack budget!"

Pepperoni, the commander of Anzio's tankette units, was feeling braver than most, as she had managed not to screw up anything personally in the previous day's events and had even had fun. She raised her hand. "Duce? How do we know it was Saunders?"

Anchovy stopped, hand frozen in mid gesture, and as her rant derailed, her voice lost its imperious tone. "Well… obviously… we know it was Saunders… who else would be spying on us? We have our match coming up."

"We might win, and then we'd be facing Pravda…" said Pepperoni.

Duce Anchovy narrowed her eyes and glared at the girl. "What do you mean, 'might win'? 'Might'? Will!"

Carpaccio, the blonde commander of Anzio's Semovente assault guns, pitched in. "I was in the crowd passing out gelato during the rally, and someone said there were Saunders spies."

"I remember that," said Anchovy. "And they certainly did run away afterwards." She looked at Saori. "Weren't you the one that pointed them out, Saori? How did you know?"

"I got an email from a friend," Saori explained. "She said that a friend of hers that's now at Saunders may be visiting Anzio, and she sent a picture. When I was cooking at the Fashion Club stall, I saw the girl with another girl, but they were wearing our uniforms. So I followed them. They were acting all suspicious around the tanks, taking pictures."

"Can I see this email?" asked Carpaccio. Saori called it up on her phone, and passed it over.

"What happened then?" Anchovy asked Saori.

"I followed them into your rally. They were talking, and I overheard them." Saori looked aside, nervously.

"What did they say?"

"Well, the one said that I had…" Saori blushed, and hesitated, "…put on a little weight."

There was a massive outpouring of sympathy from most of the girls in the room, as the Anzio Dozen was a running gag among new students faced with Anzio's excellent food options.

"You had no idea that pointing them out would cause that sort of commotion, so I can't really blame you. I'd have done the same thing," said Anchovy, sympathetically.

"But wasn't there something else? When we were at the tank garages, there was some call about that on the radio…" said Pepperoni. "It was right before the P40 knocked them across the river."

Momo went scarlet, and immediately changed the subject. "Whatever the cause of this, we need to find a way to restart our recruiting drive. We don't have enough people to fully crew all the tanks we have to use against Saunders, much less if… when we win and need to crew 15, or even 20 tanks. Thanks to my efforts, the club actually had a little spare money before this fiasco, even after getting the new tanks, but we're desperately short people."

Anchovy dropped her hands. "The student council isn't going to let us throw another rally after that, at least not until we make it right with the other clubs. That was supposed to be our big attempt to get people to join."

The History Club members went into a huddle. A few moments later, having decided something, the girl with the red scarf stepped forward, in front of Anchovy. "The die is cast. We were partly responsible for the mess in our haste to get revenge. Seeing as how our stall is wrecked, we hereby offer our service to Duce."

Carpaccio looked up from the phone in surprise. "Taka! You and your friends don't need to do that."

Caesar, still Taka to her childhood friend, stepped forward and saluted Anchovy. "Cowards die many times before their actual deaths, and we are not cowards."

Duce Anchovy grinned at finding someone able to match her sense of drama, and stepped forward to offer a hand to Caesar. "It is said that to become strong, one must have no friends to lean on, or to look to for support. Today we have proven the opposite." The two shook hands, and Anchovy repeated the gesture with the other three club members.

Caesar stepped over to her friend. As she did, she caught sight of the picture on Saori's phone. "I know that girl! That's Heinz!" She took the phone to show to her History Club friends, who nodded in recognition.

"Who?" asked a confused Anchovy.

"She told us her soul name was Heinz Guderian. She and a friend stopped by our stall about an hour before the chaos," Oryou of the History Club said.

"Somebody actually stopped by your stall?" asked Pepperoni. "They must have been desperate."

"Did the friend have glasses and brown hair, tied in back with a black bow?" asked Saori.

"Yeah," said Oryou. "She said her friend was Clayton Abrams."

"Creighton Abrams," corrected Erwin of the History Club. "He was an American general. Patton himself thought Abrams was a better tank officer than he was. I doubt it's a coincidence that they both were famous tank officers."

"Heinz also figured out all our soul names," added Saemonza of the History Club. "It sounded like she knew about us ahead of time."

"Most of Anzio knows about you four at this point," quipped Momo, who wondered if she could get a bounty from the Student Council if the History Club stall didn't reopen.

"You transferred from Ōarai, Saori?" asked Carpaccio, taking back Saori's phone.

Saori nodded. "My friend Hana that sent me this picture was also there. But I didn't recognize this Yukari."

"That's odd," said Caesar. "We also transferred from Ōarai."

"So? I transferred as well," added Momo.

"She obviously knew you if she commented on your weight," Anchovy remarked to Saori.

"Wait!" cried Pepperoni. "On the radio, didn't she say that it wasn't Saori that put on weight, but…"

"I am not fat!" cried Momo as she turned scarlet again. "I've been trying to watch what I eat."

"There's obviously an Ōarai connection," said Carpaccio, "but what's puzzling is how St. Gloriana plays into all this."

"Saunders, Ōarai, and now St. Gloriana! What do they have to do with this?" asked Anchovy, now thoroughly confused.

"Saori's friend, Hana, is at St. Gloriana, at least according to her school email address," explained Carpaccio. "Further, in the picture, this Yukari is wearing the Saunders Sensha-Do Team field uniform, not their school uniform. The picture is an odd size, so it was cropped, but from what I can tell from the background, it looks like she's at a match, and she's not looking at the camera, so it was taken without her knowledge."

"Is your friend a Sensha-Do fan?" asked Anchovy.

"No, she is into flowers. Although she started asking me about tanks for some reason a few weeks ago," answered Saori.

"Saunders did play St. Gloriana in a practice match a week or so ago, and they even won." Anchovy started pacing back and forth, though in puzzlement rather than for drama. "That could be where picture was taken."

"It's also interesting that this was sent shortly after the National Tournament opening ceremony, where we were matched up with Saunders. It's as if your friend knew she would be spying in advance of our match and warned you so you could catch her," started Carpaccio.

"…which would help us against Saunders," finished Anchovy. "Darjeeling's not normally one to go for tricks herself, but this email smells like someone from St. Gloriana's team was involved. Perhaps this Yukari spied on them, and this was a more personal revenge."

Duce Anchovy drew herself up as tall as she could. "Soldiers of Anzio! This slight cannot go unpunished! We will not stand idly by while the other schools use us as pawns in their games! I hereby declare that we will have our justice against both Saunders and St. Gloriana for this slight!"

Most of the crowd broke into applause.

"We still need people," said Momo. "That hasn't gone away."

"Momo, you're an excellent manager, and you've done the team well. However, now is the time when Anzio needs more. You will join us on the field of honor," Duce Anchovy commanded.

"But… but…" Momo stammered.

"It would help you lose weight," Pepperoni pointed out.

"Fine," Momo slumped, knowing she couldn't win.

Saori made up her mind. She had been informed this morning that the Fashion Club's food stall had been amongst the casualties in the Piazza, and had been surprised to find herself glad. Yesterday, driving around the city with Anchovy, coordinating the hunt for the spies, she had felt like she was truly accomplishing something important. Somehow, the radio made her feel like there was more to life than just getting a boyfriend. It felt strangely familiar, comfortably so. Hana's sudden interest in tanks no longer seemed so odd. Perhaps it was just a side effect of being around Duce Anchovy?

"Uh, I'd like to join the team as well," she said.

"You? Why would you want to join us? The Fashion Club loves you!" said Momo.

"You all look like you're having fun, and I had fun hunting down the spies with you," said Saori. "Also, it's got to be better at helping me meet boys than the Fashion Club."

"Splendid! Welcome, Saori!" said Duce Anchovy. "You've shown you know how to work a radio, we could always use more people with such drive and talent!"

"… and such cooking skill!" added Pepperoni. Momo recovered slightly from the realization that the Sensha-Do team had just acquired one of the other most talented cooks in Anzio.

Despite the threat of more cooking in the future, Saori smiled. For the first time in days, she was happy in the knowledge that she was among friends.

* * *

Early the next morning, Carpaccio was standing on the balcony of her dorm room, waiting for the sunrise, when a familiar voice came from down below. "Hail, Hina… er, Carpaccio!"

"Hi Ta… Caesar! And Erwin, Saemonza, and Oryou as well! What are you doing out this early?"

"We were out for a little exercise before breakfast," replied Erwin. "Work saves blood."

"I think I should have enough here for you all, if you'd care to join me," invited Carpaccio.

The four trooped up to the dorm room, and helped Carpaccio prepare breakfast, with Carpaccio taking care to give them tasks which didn't involve cooking.

"What were you doing up, Carpaccio?" asked Oryou.

"I've been having weird dreams lately," Carpaccio replied. "I haven't gotten a good night's sleep since the recent drama with the spies. I do have to thank you all for joining the team, though."

"Armored warfare is in my soul," said Erwin. "And for some reason the Student Council seemed relieved we had decided to close up our stall."

"Our cooking wasn't that bad," added Saemonza.

"It's odd, though," said Caesar. "I too have been experiencing ominous portents. In fact, we all have."

"I keep reliving the clash of steel in the midst of battle," said Saemonza. "Only our enemy is you and your tank. And the battlefield is like Mount Tamateyama, rather than Anzio's Circus Maximus."

"Or the Hürtgenwald," added Erwin.

"Or the Aokigahara," added Oryou.

"Or the Silva Arsia," added Caesar.

"So you were fighting against me and my Semovente in a forest?" asked Carpaccio.

The four, almost in perfect unison, replied with "That's it!"

Carpaccio laughed. "You four are great together. It's strange, though, my dream is similar. We're in a forest, but it's my crew against you four, in a… it's not a Semovente. It's a gray, German one."

"A Sturmgeschütz?" asked Erwin. "Ah, the pride of the Sturmartillerie."

"That is odd, and somewhat worrisome that we should have similar dreams," said Oryou. "But my dream didn't feel bad, more like it was a noble fight that was destined for greatness."

"No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected," said Caesar.

* * *

Next: Part XX: A Fistful of Shermans

Author's Note: There are some characters that are just awesome to write, and I think Anchovy... sorry, Duce Anchovy tops them all. Trying to keep the History Club in character is also fun.


	20. A Fistful of Shermans

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XX: A Fistful of Shermans

by Civilis

* * *

"Relax, Arisa. None of them will recognize you, especially after dying your hair," said Kay, as the girl next to her tried to find something to hide behind.

"Although I don't blame you for being scared," added Naomi, who was moving about trying to make sure she wasn't between the Saunders Intelligence Officer and the Anzio tank captains making their way across the field. "They look pissed," Naomi continued.

Arisa, after a debriefing from Kay and Naomi about the events in Anzio, which had been highlighted by multiple trips to the internet to watch the related cell phone footage posted by Anzio students, had immediately gone to the Akiyama barbershop. Her hair was now much darker, and a lighter red and blue stripe had been added in the front to give people looking at her something else to focus on.

"You know, the more nervous you act, the more they'll look at you," Kay finished.

Arisa reluctantly straightened up and tried to act casual.

"So!" bellowed Duce Anchovy, when the two groups met up. "Kay, we at Anzio have survived your cowardly attempt to sabotage our team. We will show you our might. We will not rest until both you and Darjeeling pay for the damage you caused, and this here today will be the first payment. Duce Anchovy so speaks."

Kay fought the urge to give away Arisa's position. Instead, she smiled at the opposing commander. "Yeah, I kind of wanted to apologize for that. I will admit responsibility, and do what I can to pay for the damage. But what does Darjeeling have to do with it? It was our fault."

"Mere money can't make up for the damage," replied Duce Anchovy, dismissively. "We will make up for this with the wreckage of Saunders' tanks."

The judges were not sure what to do. Some rivalries between teams were friendly and others fierce. However, few had signs of both. Anzio's tank commanders were angry, Saunders's commanders were amused. Finally, the lead judge just decided to get it over with, and called out "The match between Saunders University High School and Anzio Academy Girls School will now begin. Everyone, bow!" All participants, both the tank commanders performing the traditional pre-match faceoff in the center of the field and the other crew waiting at the sides, bowed towards the other team.

* * *

In truth, Kay had been just as amused as anyone at the monumental fiasco that had occurred at Anzio. It looked like an escalating series of screw-ups that had no real direct cause. Still, once she heard the story, for appearances sake, she had given Yukari and Arisa a lecture on not putting bystanders at risk.

"What did we learn from this?" she had asked in the club room.

"Don't steal a tank you don't know how to drive?" asked Yukari.

"I think she wants to know if we learned anything about Anzio's lineup to make the whole thing worthwhile," explained Naomi.

"Yukari, pull up the video from the theatre," Arisa called. Yukari obliged, showing the commanders the decoy assembly area in the prop room.

"So we should brief the crews to expect heavy use of decoys?" asked Kay.

"That's not all. I went over this on the trip back. Take a look at the two Semovente decoys," Arisa pointed.

"They're different sizes," said Naomi. "The one in the back has some side skirts attached, and it's got more widely spaced road wheels."

"I think the one in the back is a decoy for a Semovente 75/46 or a Semovente 105/25, both of which are significantly more dangerous than the 75/18s they normally use," said Yukari.

"Nothing super dangerous, but still potentially a threat," said Arisa. "We'll be careful."

"What about crews?" asked Kay. "Have they acquired any… veterans?"

"They may have. Our former Student Council PR person seems to be their team manager. The good news is that she wasn't a good tank gunner at Ōarai even with training," Yukari informed the group.

Arisa snorted. "She certainly didn't hit us."

"The bad news is that our radio operator, Saori, seems to have been dragged into this. She's the one that identified us as Saunders students, so she knows something, and she seemed to be pretty competent at managing the search for us last night. And then there's the History Club. I think there was something in one of the online videos about them stealing a Semovente and coming after us for revenge. I know Caesar was commanding the one that tried to run us down. They had a StuG at Ōarai, so if they remember how to use it, they might be able to use one of the Semoventes."

"Anything else?" asked Kay.

"If I think of it, I'll let you know," replied Yukari.

"All right, we'll prepare some further intelligence briefings, and we'll have the final team meeting tomorrow. You two get some rest. We need you awake tomorrow."

"For the team meeting?"

"You have your fans to meet. And we'll be showing The Good, The Bad and The Ugly as our pre-match movie night afterwards. Clint Eastwood makes us feel lucky," grinned Kay.

* * *

The Nagasaki prefecture Sensha-do field was located north of Ōmura bay centered on the town of Sonogi, and the combat area incorporated a mix of fields, woods, ridges, beach, and some small towns. Unlike the 'other timeline', the starting areas for the match were further inland, in the more open part of the battlefield.

Saunders forces had been assigned call signs based on western movies, likely influenced by Kay's enjoyment of the recent movie nights. Kay, with Yukari, would have a regular M4A1 Sherman, call sign Sheriff. Their big gun, Naomi and her Firefly, was Gunslinger. The spare Sherman M4A1(76)W was the Deputy. There were six regular M4A1 Shermans divided into teams of three, teams Posse and Cowboy. The flag tank, Arisa's M4A1(76)W, was Schoolmarm.

The enemy tanks had been designated similarly. It was possible that Anzio would use a CV33 tankette for reconnaissance; if one was sighted, it was a Varmint. The various Italian 'medium' tanks, which Saunders considered light, the M11/39, M13/40 and M14/41, all functionally similar, were Rustlers; it was known from the espionage mission that Anzio had at least two of the later M14 tanks. The Semovente 75/18 assault guns, which posed slightly more of a threat, and of which Anzio was known to possess at least three, were Bandits. The P40 'heavy' tank, comparable to a Sherman, was the likely Anzio flag tank, and was the Outlaw. The heavier Semovente assault gun, likely either a Semovente 75/46 or a Semovente 105/25, if it existed, was the Undertaker.

"In order to use their decoys," Arisa had said during the briefing before the battle, "they'll have to play defensively. They'll likely pin us with the decoys, then hit us from the flank when we're trying to take out the decoys." That had been Anzio's plan in the 'other timeline', and Arisa had been encouraged when Yukari's recollections of the other Anzio battle matched up with her predictions.

The terrain on this side of the range favored a quick advance. On the right flank was a wide valley, designated Prairie, dotted with isolated small groves of trees, clumps of bushes and the occasional house. This was the most obvious means of advance, and this was likely where Anzio would set up their decoys and ambush. On the far left flank was another valley, narrower and with less cover, designated Canyon. Tanks moving along Canyon would be exposed, so it wasn't as good a route for either side. In the middle were two long ridgelines, both devoid of trees. These had been designated Corral and Tombstone. A tank parked at one end could watch both of them and the shallow gap between them almost their entire length, making it a lousy means of advance. The very far end near the Anzio start area was the wooded section, providing some cover.

The plan, then, was to ambush the ambush. The Saunders force would advance up Prairie. Posse and Cowboy Team would play leapfrog as they advanced, with one team waiting while the other moved forward past it to the next secure spot. If a decoy emplacement was discovered, the other team and the Sheriff and Deputy would cover the flank.

Naomi, as the best shot, was the reserve, and would be left towards the rear in a hull down position watching Corral and Tombstone. Her priority was the Outlaw or the Undertaker, and Gunslinger was under orders not to expose its position for anything else. As always, the Schoolmarm would be safely in the rear, allowing Arisa to coordinate the team's movements.

Plan in place, the Saunders tanks assembled at the start point.

"Match begin!" came the radio call.

"All right, troops, let's mount 'em up and move 'em out!" radioed Kay.

One by one, the Saunders tanks began advancing towards the enemy.

"This is Posse 1, still no sign of the enemy," came the call over the radio.

"Roger, Posse. Hold position," radioed Arisa. "Cowboy Team, advance past Posse."

"Roger, Schoolmarm. Cowboy advancing."

Yukari looked at Kay. "Schoolmarm?"

"She sits comfortably behind while the rest of us round up the bad guys," said Kay.

"Don't you think that's kind of a weakness? That's one less tank we have in combat, and she's in one of our best," said Yukari.

"She would be a target no matter where she was," said Kay, "given she has our flag. This way, there's no risk of a stray shot costing us the match. Besides, Arisa isn't that bad of a commander, once she stops panicking. She was able to take out Darjeeling."

The radio crackled to life with Naomi's voice. "I see one small yellow tank, most likely a Varmint, way down at the end of Tombstone."

Kay picked up the radio. "Probably scouting. If it sees you, and you can hit it, Gunslinger, kill it and shift position."

"It's moved on towards Canyon. Even for me that would be a tough shot, given how far away it was," said Naomi. "I don't think the Varmint saw me."

Kay turned back to Yukari. "Any way, if Arisa gets into combat, giving her all the armor and firepower we have may be the difference between winning and losing."

Yukari turned to examine the landscape. The valley known as Prairie was calm. Still, there was enough cover that the Anzio team could use to hide. The Saunders leapfrog strategy only put three Shermans at risk from fire from a P40 or late Semovente, and meant the three Shermans set to provide cover would be able to respond quickly.

"Cowboy 1 here. No sign of any Bad Guys."

"Roger, Cowboy. Hold your position. Sheriff, still no sign of the enemy besides one Varmint," said Arisa.

"Keep advancing," Kay radioed back.

"Roger. Posse Team, advance past Cowboy. Sheriff, Deputy, move up to cover Cowboy's flank," ordered Arisa.

Sheriff started lumbering forward. Nearby, Yukari could see Deputy start moving as well, its commander and gunner keeping watch, despite being in a supposedly safe position.

The tank weaved around the trees and scrub, until they had closed up with the three tanks of Cowboy. Ahead, Yukari could just make out Posse climbing a low rise. They were rapidly approaching the end of Prairie and the Sensha-Do range.

"Posse here!" came the call on the radio. "One… no, two Rustlers ahead, hidden by the trees."

"Posse 3 here! I see them! Engaging!"

"Cowboy, Sheriff, Deputy, cover the flank!" came Arisa's radio call, as Yukari watched the three Posse Shermans ahead open fire in the distance.

The five Saunders tanks repositioned to cover the flanks, using the trees and buildings for cover.

There was no return fire.

"Roger, Sheriff, Schoolmarm, Posse 1 here, we've found the decoys. Count four Rustler, three Bandit, one Outlaw, one Undertaker. Eliminating the decoys."

Sherman fire continued. Yukari continued watching the ridgeline along the flank for Anzio tanks.

Naomi's voice came on the radio. "Gunslinger here. I see a lot of dust coming this way down Canyon."

"Posse 1. No sign of Bad Guys here," came another voice.

"Cowboy 1, here. Looks like we've been had."

"Cowboy team, Sheriff, Deputy, move to Corral to cover Canyon," ordered Arisa. "Gunslinger, reposition to cover the far end. You've got to hold the Bad Guys off."

"Looking forward to it," said Naomi. Yukari could practically hear the grin over the radio. "The dust cloud is moving this way pretty fast."

Ahead of them, the Shermans of Cowboy team started up the ridge, as Sheriff and Deputy moved behind them. To their flank, Posse team fired the occasional shot into a decoy.

The five Shermans raced over the ridge. Because she knew where to look, Yukari could just make out Gunslinger to their left, positioning itself. Ahead, she could see the dust moving down Canyon, approaching Gunslinger.

"Gunslinger, what's your status?" said Kay.

"Gunslinger, nothing yet. We're ready to fire."

"This is Posse 1, we're almost out of decoys. What nex…"

The radio transmission was interrupted by the sound of a cannon impact on the tank, clearly audible on the radio.

"Posse 1 hit and out!" came the frantic call.

"Posse 3! Lots of Bad Guys!"

"This is Gunslinger! Abort! Abort! Dust cloud is a Varmint dragging a log!" came Naomi's call.

Yukari watched as, in the distance, Gunslinger fired.

"Varmint is dead!" said Naomi.

Another shot, from behind her, which was the tank's right flank, slammed into Deputy, sending up a cloud of smoke and the white flag. "Deputy out!" came the call. "Looks like the Undertaker was waiting!"

"Posse 2 out!" came another call.

"Posse 3, about four, maybe six bad guys headed down Prairie towards Schoolmarm! Posse knocked out a Rustler and a Bandit, but one of them hit our track, we're stuck. I saw the Outlaw and the Undertaker."

"That can't be right," said another voice. "Cowboy team is engaging Undertaker at the top of Tombstone!"

Ahead, the three Cowboy Shermans turned to engage something in the thin scrub at the top of Tombstone.

"Everyone, fall back to Prairie!" ordered Arisa.

"Well, we wanted an interesting match…" said Kay.

* * *

Next: Part XIX: For a Few Shermans More

Author's Note: No plan ever survives first contact with the enemy.


	21. For a Few Shermans More

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXI: For a Few Shermans More

by Civilis

* * *

Author's Note: This chapter was originally published missing a piece in the middle. I have since added the missing piece.

* * *

Sheriff and the three Shermans of Cowboy Team turned away from their attacker and back towards the Anzio assault heading toward Saunders flag tank.

Behind them, Yukari watched as one of the Cowboy tanks took a hit to the rear and stopped, smoking, as the white flag popped out.

"Cowboy 2 out!" came the call.

Yukari scanned the bushes through her binoculars. A reflection off something caught her eye, and she could just make out a short, green painted assault gun sitting under a camouflage net, one that almost perfectly mimicked the surrounding foliage. If she hadn't caught its general location when it fired, she'd have never found it.

"Kay! Head for Prairie by the easiest route! Their assault gun will need to move to track us sooner!" Yukari called.

Kay grabbed the radio and repeated the order.

The Semovente fired at one of the Shermans, but the Saunders tank's evasive driving caused the shot to miss.

The two Shermans, not having an accurate fix on the target and firing on the move, shot wildly into the bushes.

"That's definitely Undertaker," Kay said, having also found the enemy. "From the looks of it, it's likely the model with the 75mm cannon."

The three surviving Saunders tanks rapidly pulled out of the assault gun's limited firing arc.

"They're going to be coming after us," said Kay. "Let's try to get to cover before they get into position."

The three tanks dropped down the slope into the valley known as Prairie, Sheriff in the lead. Yukari watched behind them as the two remaining Shermans of Cowboy team started down into the valley. Just after the last one started down, a shot passed nearby from behind it.

"Looks like the Undertaker is after us. Could Posse have mistaken a Bandit for an Undertaker?" Yukari asked.

"It's possible," said Kay. "We should leave one of the Cowboy tanks behind to cover…"

She turned around to the front of the tank, alarmed.

Next to her, Yukari turned around just as a M14 tank rounded the corner one of the houses ahead of them. It fired, but the shot from the weak 47mm cannon bounced off the Sherman's front armor. The tank quickly backed out of sight.

Kay grabbed the radio. "Cowboy team! The enemy is in ambush positions in Prarie! Watch your front and advance under cover where possible!"

She turned to Yukari. "If I were Anzio, I'd have the Outlaw and Undertaker rush Schoolmarm while everything else remains behind to hinder our coming to the rescue."

"But Undertaker is behind us," said Yukari.

"What if they have two?" asked Kay.

Nearby, one of the Cowboy Shermans fired at a M14, probably the one they run into earlier, as it withdrew down Prairie.

"We don't want any more of them behind us," said Kay. "Although it's going to slow us down, we need to make sure to eliminate them as we go."

The M14 withdrew behind a house ahead of them. Sheriff angled around the other side of the house, driving through a small garden.

Yukari dropped into the hatch. Nearby, Sheriff's gunner took aim as the tank rounded the house.

A shot from the M14 bounced off the front armor. The Sherman fired back, and Yukari reloaded as Kay called out "Miss!" from above.

Yukari tapped the gunner on the shoulder. The Sherman's cannon fired again.

"Nice one!" said Kay.

After reloading, Yukari pulled herself up to watch for threats. She watched as they passed the dejected Anzio crew pulling themselves out of their knocked-out tank.

The Saunders team had studied the route up Prarie, knowing where they could take cover on the way, and what landmarks they would be passing. Now, they were headed the opposite direction, and that knowledge was almost useless.

"So now you're in another tank race," said Kay. "Anzio's trying to get to Schoolmarm, followed by us trying to catch up with them, followed by their second Undertaker trying to get us from behind."

"How did we miss their tanks?" wondered Yukari.

Ahead of them, a Semovente fired a shot that landed well to their left before withdrawing behind a small clump of trees. Kay directed her driver to approach cautiously.

"This is Posse 3," came the radio call. "We're still fixing the track. They hit us good… it may be a while."

"Posse, this is Sheriff. How did we miss them?" radioed Kay.

"I looked, and it looks like they had their real tanks hidden with nets well behind the dummy tanks. We were so fixated on the dummies, we didn't see the real ones until they all charged."

Kay looked over at Yukari. "It's like Arisa's disguise. The key is to get the person you're fooling to fixate on something obvious… in this case, the decoys… that they don't look any harder and spot what you're trying to hide… the real tanks hidden near by."

"So, once we opened fire on the decoys, they sent the CV-33 down Canyon, dragging up dust behind it, figuring we'd respond the way we did. We pulled ourselves into their ambush and opened Prairie for their run at our flag," finished Yukari.

Anzio had been the one easy match for Oarai. While Saunders was definitely stronger in this timeline than when Oarai had faced them, Anzio too had gotten stronger. Yukari had remembered the decoys, but had overlooked that they had later proven just as skilled at making real tanks disappear as they had been at making fake tanks appear… and the beneficiaries of that skill in the other timeline had been the members of the History Club.

"This is Ar… Schoolmarm. I'm in a hull down position at our start point. No sign of the enemy," radioed Arisa.

"Schoolmarm, keep a close eye on your flanks," said Kay. "If they see you first, this might be all over."

"Gunslinger here," radioed Naomi, and there was a brief pause in which Yukari could make out the snapping of the girl's gum. "I've got your left flank, Schoolmarm. Keep a close eye on your right."

Ahead of Sheriff, the Semovente popped out again and fired, wildly missing, before retreating. Still, the appearance and shot caused Sheriff's driver to start evading again, slowing the tank's advance. They managed to miss running over a swing set as they used another house for cover.

Yukari looked behind them, and saw the two surviving Cowboy tanks matching their movement. Behind them, in the distance, she saw another tank. She raised her binoculars, and quickly found the enemy Semovente that had ambushed them was following them in much the same way. She could just make out Erwin's distinctive hair and German hat on the figure in the top hatch.

"Kay, the second Undertaker is catching up with us," said Yukari. "I think it's a Semovente 75/46. It looks like it's crewed by Oarai's old History Club."

"The ones that know how to use a StuG?" asked Kay.

"Yeah. They may be having issues in that there are four of them in a three-crew tank," said Yukari, "but Anzio does occasionally over-crew their vehicles."

"We can at least slow them down." Kay picked up the radio. "Cowboy 3, break off and ambush the trailing Undertaker," she ordered. "Head up the side of Prarie. Since they're an assault gun, they'll need to maneuver to get a shot at you."

Yukari watched as, rather than continue to duck and weave between cover, the last Sherman pulled all the way around one of the houses and started back up Prarie.

Off to their right, Cowboy 1 could be seen moving around the other side of the trees the Semovente was using for cover. It stopped and fired.

"Cowboy 1… I got the assault gun. Keep going!" the tank's commander radioed eagerly.

"Arisa here," came the voice on the radio again. "I still don't see any tanks, but I just saw an explosion back there."

"I see the Undertaker… and the flag tank," came Naomi's calm tones. "Give me a second and I'll end thi…" There was a pause, and then a surprisingly loud "what the hell?"

"What's wrong, Naomi?" Kay radioed back.

Naomi's response was rushed and uncharacteristically panicked. "I… I can't see! There's another smoke cloud! They must have another tankette!"

"Schoolmarm, fall back to cover Gunslinger!" ordered Kay.

Yukari thought back to the Oarai / Anzio match. "Those tankettes are small, and tend to roll at a near miss. Could be that Naomi didn't kill it earlier, and didn't realize it because of the dust cloud it had kicked up."

"Gunslinger, make sure that Varmint is dead," radioed Kay.

"I'm trying!" came Naomi's frustrated voice. "It's driving around so close it's hard to get a shot on it."

"You could always ram it," said Yukari, remembering Rabbit Team's tank-fu.

"Gunsinger, Oddball says 'just ram it'," Kay radioed Naomi.

"I've got two tanks closing in on my position," came Arisa's angry voice. "Whatever you're doing, hurry up!"

"Cowboy 3, engaging Undertaker," came the voice on the radio.

Yukari looked back up the valley. She heard at least three cannon shots, but couldn't see any of the tanks.

"Cowboy 3… out," the radio squawked. "They're pretty fast on the draw."

"Good job slowing them down," Kay radioed back.

The blonde turned to Yukari, and her face lit up with inspiration. "That's what it comes down to… speed."

She got on the radio. "Cowboy 1, get on my left flank. We're charging full speed up the side of Prarie. Shoot on the move, but don't stop for anything but their flag."

Kay's driver knew just what to do, and Cowboy 1 quickly pulled next to them as the pair of tanks charged as fast as they could towards the final confrontation. Yukari watched as a startled M14 crew hiding their tank behind a house, facing the wrong direction, watched the pair zip past them. Cowboy 1 fired a wild shot, but it hit nothing but grass.

"Still trying to get the Varmint," radioed Naomi. "That thing's a slippery one."

"Engaging an enemy Siem… Undertaker," Arisa added.

Ahead of them, a yellow Siemovente 75/18 had pulled out, and was trying to line up its hull mounted gun with the charging Saunders tanks. Cowboy 1 fired first, taking out the corner of a building. Kay's gunner fired, knocking down a tree next to the tank. As the Anzio gunner fired wildly into the dirt, Yukari rammed a shell home, and signaled to the gunner, who fired again.

"Hit! Nice job!" came the call from Kay at the Commander's hatch.

"Taking fire from two tanks," radioed Arisa. "I'm backing up."

"I finally got the Varmint," Naomi added, her usual calm tone returning. "Now I just need to get out of this dust."

The tank started up the hill where Arisa's tank was hiding.

"Looks like we might make it in time!" said Yukari.

From behind the tank, there was the scream of an incoming shell and a simultaneous explosion.

"Cowboy 1, out!" came the radio call.

"You jinxed us, Yukari," joked Kay, despite the seriousness of the situation. "Your friends have caught up."

"Help!" yelled Arisa. "I'm locked in a point-blank duel with the Siemovente! They're ramming me!"

"I'm just coming out of the dust," Naomi replied. "Just hold on as long as you can."

"I see them!" called Kay's gunner. "It's the Undertaker and Arisa!"

A shot from behind went past the turret of Kay's tank.

"Gunner! New target 30 degrees right!" yelled Kay. "This is going to be close," she said, as the gunner shifted the turret at her orders, then fired. Other shots could be heard outside the tank, even with the noise of the tank's own gun echoing away.

Yukari rammed another shell home.

"Make this one count!" called Kay.

Impossible as it sounded, Yukari would swear she could make out the sounds of the US 75mm cannon, 76mm cannon, and the British 17pdr all firing at the same time. All the echoes mixed in to each other and slowly died off as the radio spoke "Anzio flag tank eliminated. Saunders wins!"

Yukari pulled herself out of the tank's hatch next to a smiling Kay. In front of her, she could see Carpaccio calmly pulling herself out of a knocked-out Siemovente 105/25, which had closed with the Saunders flag Sherman before Arisa had finally knocked it out with a well-placed shot. Behind her, she could see Erwin helping Caesar out of a knocked out Siemovente 75/46, which was just about lined up for a shot on Kay before taking a fatal hit from Naomi. Off to their right, she could see Anchovy fuming in the turret of the P40, which had gotten into position to hit Arisa from the flank while she was distracted with Carpaccio before Kay's gunner had knocked it out.

"That was an awesome finish to an exciting battle," a beaming Kay proclaimed. "And it's almost exactly noon! A perfect Western showdown. I don't think it could get closer than that."

* * *

"Now, the hard part," said Kay from the commander's hatch, as the Sherman known as Sheriff pulled into the Nagasaki Prefecture Sensha-Do Range staging area. "We need to find a way to make peace with Anzio."

"They're out of the tournament, Kay," called Arisa, from the tank next to them. Arisa's tank was scorched from a couple of non-penetrating hits and had some mangled armor from where Carpaccio had rammed the tank with her assault gun. "Why are we worried about that now?"

"Fancy talk from someone that dyed their hair so the Anzio girls wouldn't recognize her," said Yukari, from the hatch next to Kay. "Your enemy today may be your friend tomorrow."

The two tanks passed the replica railway gun carriage that carried the massive screen used to show the spectators the match, and parked on the grass near the Saunders team concession area. The tankers dismounted, and Kay, Yukari, and Arisa headed towards the concession area for food and drinks.

"Yukari! Kei!" came a voice from the stands.

"Mom! Dad!" Yukari waved her parents over.

The two Akiyamas made their way over to their daughter. "I still can't follow what's going on," her mother admitted, "but you won! Congratulations!"

"Is that a mobile barbershop over there?" Yukari's father asked.

"Why do we even have that?" Yukari asked her blonde commander.

Kay tapped her chin. "It seems to be a tradition to add a new truck to the fleet every couple of years. I think we started with the first aid truck, and then added a kitchen, and then it spiraled out of control…"

Yukari's father, being a professional hairdresser, started wandering over towards the offending truck.

Yukari, sensing another confrontation, started to call him back. "Dad! Dad!"

"Let him go," said Kay, shaking her head. "Most of the team knows he's a nice guy, so he won't be a problem." She turned to Yukari's mother, with a handful of slips of paper. "Here, since you're our guest, have some free food vouchers, and some extra for your husband."

"Thanks, Kei!" said Yukari's mom, "See you, Yukari, I'll go and keep your father out of trouble!" She dashed off in search of her husband.

"We could try bribing Anzio with food," came Arisa's voice, moments before the girl appeared from the crowd with a hamburger. "Anzio seems to be big on that."

"I don't want this to seem like a bribe, and I don't want to play up that we're rich," replied Kay. She took a halfhearted grab at Arisa's burger, but Arisa was able to pull it away in time.

Arisa quickly finished her burger. "At least we have some time. Apparently the recovery vehicles are having issues with the hills, so it will be a while before they're ready for the closing ceremony for the match."

As if on cue, Yukari's stomach growled.

"Get something to eat, Yukari," laughed Kay. "I'll try to figure out how we can make nice with Anzio. If nothing else, we'll try food."

Yukari suspected it wouldn't be that simple.

* * *

Next: XXII: Pizza is our Profession

Author's Notes: I'd like to thank Cloudberry Jam, PTKadota, Neo-byzantium and TMI Fairy for reviewing and giving me the push to keep writing.


	22. Pizza is our Profession

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXII: Pizza is our Profession

by Civilis

* * *

Yukari took time to look over the packed stands. Even though Anzio wasn't a big Sensha-do school, a lot of students had come to watch. The visitor stands were nearly full, and many additional students had put out blankets on the grass to watch and eat. The rarely used visitor concession area nearby was also full of Anzio food trucks, competing with their Saunders counterparts.

There was definitely some hostility between the Anzio and Saunders students, far more than usual for the normal inter-school rivalry that all Sensha-do teams faced. The one side of the gallery was filled with the white Anzio shirts, the other side with gray Saunders jackets. In the middle, a motley crew of tank fans, tourists and curious locals mixed occasionally with both sides. One, probably a local, walked past Yukari with plates of pizza to join her husband, sitting nearby with a pair of sodas from the Saunders drink truck.

Yukari realized she could really go for a pizza right now. Saunders pizza somehow didn't taste quite right. 'If they're going to go after me anyways,' she thought, 'I can at least get some food out of it.' So, without hesitating, she walked over to the Anzio Pizza truck and stood in line for pizza like she belonged there.

Somehow, the audacity worked. A few Anzio students looked at her, but just returned to their food. The girl manning the counter at the pizza truck seemed to notice that she was out of place, but dropped back into the routine when Yukari placed her order. It was as if they all realized she didn't belong, but since nobody else was commenting on it, they must be making a mistake.

She spotted a small group of open seats at the far edge of the Anzio tables, and sat down with her pizza.

It wasn't until she heard a familiar voice across from her that she realized that she too could tune out the details. The two students across from her were wearing St. Gloriana blue.

"Yukari!" said Hana. "How did you spot us in this crowd?"

"Hana? What are you doing here?" Yukari asked, looking at Hana's overloaded tray of food.

"Well, we wanted to watch your match, and with the match over, the food over here was just too tempting," Hana replied, before taking a forkful of spaghetti.

Yukari suddenly realized that the girl next to Hana was Yuzu, and the last time the two had met, Yukari had been posing as a St. Gloriana student. "Ah… I can explain…"

Yuzu waved her hand in a friendly manner. "No need to explain. I think everything has worked itself out. How has Saunders been treating you, Yukari?"

Before she could answer, a familiar voice came from nearby. "Is that… Hana! What are you doing here?" Saori, wearing a new dark gray Anzio Sensha-do uniform, sat down across from the girl, next to Yukari, without seeming to notice her. She put up her hand and called out, "Hey, there are some seats over here!"

"Saori, I see you've taken up Sensha-do. Are you having fun?" said Hana.

"Yeah, it's been fun doing Sensha-do!" Saori said enthusiastically. "I'm a little disappointed we lost. I did want to thank you for that email you sent. That Saunders girl did show up to spy on us."

Hana and Yuzu both turned to look at Yukari, who had stopped with her pizza halfway to her mouth. Saori turned, and noticed Yukari for the first time, sitting right next to her.

Yukari waved the pizza. "Hi, Saori. Your spaghetti is very good."

Another familiar voice cut in, "Saori, thanks for finding…" The voice paused in recognition, and in a slightly softer, sadder tone, continued "Yuzu…."

"Hi, Momo! Looks like Saori's not the only one to find Sensha-do again. That uniform looks good on you," Yuzu said cheerfully, gesturing to Momo's own new Anzio Sensha-do uniform.

The two former student council members stared at each other, before Momo sat down at Yukari's other side, opposite her old friend. As she stared at Yuzu, Momo lost her façade of stoicism at this unexpected meeting, and her voice cracked slightly. "I… it's good to see you again." Yukari handed her a clean napkin, which she took without looking.

"Is this a friend of yours, Momo?" asked Carpaccio, sitting down at Momo's other side.

"I'm Yuzu. We were on the Ōarai student council together."

Carpaccio turned curious. "Ōarai? Did you know someone named Yukari at Ōarai, Yuzu?"

"Yeah, the name Ōarai seems to be popping up all over the place," added Pepperoni, sitting down across from Carpaccio with a plate of pizza. "Momo, Saori, Caesar, Saemonza, Oryou, Erwin, Saori's friend Hana, this Yukari…"

"Yukari? You mean Guderian," corrected Erwin, standing behind Pepperoni.

"I thought she was Heinz?" asked Momo.

"Heinz sounds too plain," replied Erwin, looking for a seat and scanning over the group. "I think… Guderian!" she said, catching sight of Yukari.

"Erwin!" said Yukari, and she waved.

Saemonza emerged from the crowd. "Erwin…" She moved to take a seat, and then caught sight of who Erwin was staring at. "Yukari?"

Carpaccio turned, looked past Momo, and caught sight of the distinctive fluffy hair. "Yukari?"

"Yukari?" called Momo, who, having heard the name of the cause of her recent problems, switched from upset to angry, and looked across the table towards the crowd for the girl in question.

"Momo…" said Yuzu.

"Momo!" said Oryou, emerging from the crowd. She then beckoned to Caesar. "Caesar!"

"Oryou!" said Caesar, waving back. She caught sight of almost everyone looking at the Saunders girl, then turned to Saori, sitting next to Yukari. "Saori?" she asked.

Saori looked at Yukari, then turned, quizzically, to Hana. "Hana…"

"Pepperoni!" said Pepperoni cheerfully, holding a slice of pepperoni pizza, not seeming to realize what was going on.

"You!" called Duce Anchovy loudly, as she barged from behind the History Club group and pointed her riding crop at Yukari.

"Anchovy!" called Yukari, smiling happily. There was no reason for her to be unfriendly.

"Janet!" called Naomi from somewhere in the crowd.

"Dr. Scott!" called Kay in reply.

"Janet!" repeated Naomi, sounding closer.

"Brad!" continued Kay, emerging from the crowd with a tray of pizza.

"Rocky!" finished Naomi, following behind Kay with a bag of sodas.

"Quiet!" roared Duce Anchovy, causing everyone to stop. She stood still for a moment, taking the time to catch her breath. "What… is going… on here?" she managed to get out between heavy breaths.

"We're eating pizza?" said Pepperoni, puzzled.

Duce Anchovy turned to stare at Pepperoni, and re-pointed her riding crop at Yukari. "What is she doing here?"

"Eating pizza?" repeated Pepperoni. When the Duce's face turned an even darker shade of crimson, Pepperoni continued. "She's a friend of the girl with the long dark hair in blue, who's a friend of both Saori and the other girl in blue. The other girl in blue is a friend of Momo's. Momo is a friend of Carpaccio, who is a friend of Caesar, who is a friend of Saemonza, Oryou, and Erwin. And Carpaccio and Saori are also my friends, and I'm your friend." Pepperoni looked at Kay and Naomi. "I think these two are friends with Yukari. So everyone here is friends," she finished, pleased with a simple conclusion.

Anchovy dropped her hands in defeat. "That… but… how… fine," she stammered, and sat down next to Pepperoni, who put a plate with a slice of pizza in front of her. Kay and Naomi sat down next to Carpaccio, and the History Club filled in the rest of the seats. Naomi passed sodas around to people without drinks, and took one of Kay's pizza slices.

"Congratulations, Kay," said Anchovy reluctantly. "You defeated us soundly. Our revenge has been thwarted… this time."

"You almost had us," replied Kay. "We got very lucky. If we'd been any later at pulling back, you'd have gotten to our flag before we could have stopped you."

"The fact that you effectively managed to keep me out of the battle with an unarmed tankette, while annoying, speaks to your skill," added Naomi, between bites of pizza.

"I got lucky you knocked my tank over the first time!" said Pepperoni. "I was supposed to be just the decoy in our plan, and it worked, but then we were able to push the tank over and get going again. Since I knew where you were, I might as well do something. So I annoyed you, and you had to spend your time to knock me out."

"Next year, with crews like these guys," said Kay, gesturing to Erwin, "you'll be giving us a run for our money. Your ambush was perfectly timed, and you hit two of our tanks before we knew what was happening. You guys were able to knock out or immobilize seven Shermans with nine tanks. That takes skill," Kay concluded.

"And one of those was a scratch crew," Carpaccio admitted. "They had a lot of motivation to learn, I guess."

"We did get some measure of justice for your trashing of our stall," said Oryou after putting down her chopsticks.

"We even forced you to run away despite being outnumbered," said Saemonza, before taking a bite of her own dinner.

"Those late-model Semoventes are quite potent," Naomi added.

"Which ones are the 'late-model Semoventes'?" Hana asked Yukari. "I know the Carro Velocce is the cute little one, and I remember the yellow Semoventes and the P40. I don't remember the little turret tanks."

"The little turret tanks are M14/41s. The late-model Semoventes are the brown and green ones," Yukari explained.

"We have one Semovente 75/46 and one 105/25," Anchovy admitted. "Those and the M14/41s are all we could afford to add. If we had beaten you, we'd need to fill the rest with M13/40s and M11/39s to face Pravda."

"Are you a gunner or loader, Momo?" asked Yuzu.

"I'm helping Anchovy with the P40 by loading when I'm not managing the team," Momo replied.

"She's an excellent team manager," Anchovy confirmed. "Thanks to her, we had actually made money before someone…" here she looked at Yukari, "…managed to mess everything up. We're not letting you fire the gun again, though, Momo, not after last time."

Remembering a frequent occurrence at Ōarai that reappeared several times in her memories, Yuzu repeated the oft-heard "Momo, you missed!"

"Okay! Yes, Anzu could shoot and I couldn't and every time I tried, you'd say 'Momo, you missed!'" yelled Momo. "We're not even on the same team, so stop… what? What am I talking about? That… that was just a stupid dream."

The table went silent, and everyone stared at Momo.

"I don't remember Ōarai having a Sensha-do team," Anchovy said, looking at the former Ōarai students around her.

"Of course they did!" said Pepperoni cheerfully. "They had this Japanese one that looked like a duck, and it was chasing all the CV33s, and it would shoot us and we would stand the tank back up and drive off again. At least, that's what I dreamed."

"How does she remember?" asked Yuzu. "She didn't go to Ōarai."

Caesar stared at Carpaccio. "Did we… Ōarai have a StuG?" she asked.

"Yeah, Ōarai had a StuG IIIF," Yukari supplied. "You four manned it."

"And we dueled in a forest," said Carpaccio, in what was somewhere between a statement and a question.

Anchovy stared around the table, before fixing her gaze on Kay, who was smiling knowingly. "You! You know something and you seem unaffected by this madness. Talk," Duce Anchovy ordered.

"A couple of weeks back, we discovered Yukari has memories of an Ōarai Sensha-do team nobody else remembered, from what we're calling an 'other timeline'. We then heard Hana had similar memories, and Arisa started getting them as well," Kay explained.

"Where is your intelligence expert? This isn't one of her dirty tri…" Anchovy's eyes widened in recognizion. "Was she the other one in that fiasco the other day? That explains why she dyed her hair."

"Arisa is having 'delusions' of Ōarai?" asked Yuzu. "I didn't know that. We thought it was just former Ōarai Sensha-do team members."

" 'We' being Darjeeling and Assam?" asked Kay. "We didn't know you had recovered your memories."

"Assam thinks it's like a strange form of amnesia," said Yuzu. "You pick up skills again by doing whatever it was you did on the team at Ōarai, and sudden shocks can cause you to start getting other memories back through dreams."

Carpaccio looked at Yukari, who added, "And thanks to the incident the other day, Caesar and her friends borrowed an assault gun and Saori was handed a radio again, which was what they did at Ōarai, which may be why they learned so quickly." The group looked at Momo for a second.

"Perhaps the similarity between our inadvertent clash at the Circus Maximus and our noble battle in this 'other lifetime' was enough to rouse some locked-away memories?" asked Saemonza, the other three History Club members nodding along in agreement. "It was indeed as noble as the clash between Hideyoshi and Akechi."

"That makes some sense," said Naomi, "but that doesn't explain why Arisa or Pepperoni remember something."

"Momo did manage to hit her tank the other day," said Saori, gesturing to Pepperoni.

"It's Pepperoni," said Anchovy, as if that explained everything. Carpaccio nodded in agreement.

"Of the three of you," Yukari added, looking at Kay and Naomi, "the only one that we actually knocked out was Arisa, and I knocked her out in the training match by following what she had done against Ōarai."

"So that's why you stopped by our booth, Guderian," said Oryou, "and that explains how you knew our soul names. Your soul knew ours in the 'other lifetime'. You came to Anzio to find your friends."

Yukari blinked in the sudden realization that she had, inadvertently, restored her friendship with some of her friends. It didn't matter that they wore different uniforms, they still had a connection. Slowly, haltingly, she was piecing back together what she had lost.

"Was Reizei Mako on our team?" asked Saori. "I… remember having to wake her up."

"Yes," answered Hana. "She was our driver. You were friends with her last year. Do you know where she ended up?"

"She was very late on getting her paperwork in. She ended up at Pravda," Saori answered.

Yukari facepalmed. Naomi looked down the table at her and said, "at least you have their uniform already."

Kay looked at Yukari as well. "We know where one other Ōarai team member is."

Yukari stiffened. "I'd rather not talk about that now," she said. "Saori, I'll send you and Hana an email. Anchovy and Darjeeling will know what it means if you tell them. You can tell them it's a problem we're working on."

"It looks like they're ready to do the closing ceremony," said Carpaccio. "We'll need to get going so we can set up for dinner afterwards."

Yukari grinned. "I had forgotten about that! Are you still going to do the dinner thing?"

"That's an important Anzio tradition! Why would we not?" said Anchovy.

"We did wreck your school. Aren't you still mad at us?" asked Yukari.

"We still follow our traditions. Besides, after this… I don't know that I can keep holding a grudge. It was a good, fun match," said Anchovy, reluctantly. She thought for a second, and it looked like she made up her mind about something.

Duce Anchovy stood up and addressed the Saunders commander. "Kay, since your subordinate seems to have somehow provided me with trained warriors, I will overlook your team's minor transgression against Anzio, and I hold no grudge off the field. However, when we next face each other on the field, I will spare you no mercy. So proclaims Duce Anchovy." She stuck out her hand to Kay.

Kay drew herself up. "On behalf of the Saunders University Affiliated High School Tankery team, I thank you for your magnanimity. I look forward to the day we next face off. However, until then, let's be friends." They shook hands.

* * *

The judges were confused as to why the teams which had seemed so antagonistic before the match had suddenly become friends, even if somewhat uneasily. Any doubts they may have had about whether the improved relations were sincere, though, were swept away by the traditional Anzio after-match dinner. Seeing their commanders getting along, the two groups of students started relaxing and enjoying the food. Drinks were brought in from the Saunders concession trucks to augment Anzio's supplies.

'Your enemy today may be your friend tomorrow', indeed. Sometimes, it didn't take an entire day to make that transition. Pizza always helps.

* * *

Next: XXIII: Post-Game Show

Author's Notes: I corrected Hana's last name. Somehow, despite all the fact-checking, I had her last name wrong. It was too good to check. Also, Microsoft Word throws errors when trying to spell check long documents. This entire story rests as a single file on my hard drive.


	23. Post-Game Show

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXIII: Post-Game Show

by Civilis

* * *

"At least we learned something," said Naomi, sitting in the Saunders Tankery Team clubroom. "Anzio knows how to throw a kickass party."

"I just wish I'd known they were going to throw in a free dinner for both teams and the judges after the closing ceremony, or I wouldn't have bought so much pizza while we were waiting," added Kay.

Arisa looked at the pair. "Was it worth you telling Anzio and St. Gloriana almost everything we know about this Ōarai 'other timeline'? They are our rivals."

"Somebody's just upset she was hiding and missed the free food," said Naomi. "I think it's a good idea. All of the other teams need whatever edge they can get if any of us is to have a shot at beating Kuromorimine."

"Even Pravda?" asked Arisa.

"Even Pravda," said Yukari, definitively.

Kay smiled. "That radio girl at Anzio said your other friend was at Pravda. So, which of your other friends haven't you found?"

"We're still missing the four girls from the volleyball team, the six freshmen movie buffs, the three girls on the Discipline Committee, the four girls in the auto club and the Student Council President. And the three gamers," Yukari recited.

"And none of them are here?" asked Naomi.

Yukari held up a clipboard with a stack of papers. "I have a list of transfer students Kay gave me. I don't see any of them on it, but I can't be sure I'm properly remembering all of their names. For that matter, I never knew the gamer girls real names, as they used their online handles as non-de-guerrres."

Kay took the clipboard. "Let me try a few things. You have an infiltration to plan."

"I thought the plan for Pravda was to just see if I could find Mako?" asked Yukari in return.

"After your last adventure, I think taking it easy on this one is a good idea. I'll try not to get people's hopes up for another Oddball Special infiltration. Still, things can happen," Kay said.

* * *

"So, Hana, Yuzu, how was your trip? Did you learn anything about Sensha-Do?" asked Darjeeling, as the two Flower Arrangement Club students entered the St. Gloriana Sensha-Do Team clubhouse and sat down at the seats left for them.

"Yes, it was very informative," said Yuzu, taking the cup of green tea that had been left for her. Hana merely stared at her cup.

"What did you learn?" the blonde commander asked as she set her teacup down.

"I learned how important battlefield mobility is. Saunders, though having a massive advantage in tanks, nearly lost because Anzio was able to anticipate their plan," said Yuzu. "Saunders also seems to keep their flag tank safely in the rear, while we keep ours in the battle. While this may be safer, it means the flag tank is without support if it gets attacked."

Assam blinked at this response, which was more professional than she expected.

"Any news on Saunders team? Have they managed to recruit any more Ōarai veterans?" Darjeeling asked.

"No, although apparently Arisa is also having 'delusions' about having faced Ōarai," said Hana, who was still staring at her cup.

Assam visibly sighed in relief.

"However," added Yuzu, "Anzio has six former Ōarai team members on its team."

Assam set down her teacup unsteadily. "Six?"

"Yes, and several of their other team members also started having 'delusions'. We think it's related to that incident in Anzio the other day, and discussed some theories," said Yuzu. "Apparently, girls at other schools that had strong memories of facing off against Oarai also get 'delusions' if they end up in a similar situation to one that would have occurred had Oarai not closed. For example, Arisa tried using a dirty trick against Oarai in the other world that she also tried using in a practice against her own team here, which Yukari 'remembered' and used against her. Since then, she's had nightmares about the incidents."

"Serves her right," said Darjeeling. "I hope she learns something about playing fair. Still, I haven't heard anything similar from any of our girls, though. Have any of you?"

"I haven't had anything," said Assam. Pekoe merely shook her head.

"I've just had my normal dreams about speeding along in my Crusader," said Rosehip.

"I remember St. Gloriana did very well against Oarai," said Yuzu.

"That Anzio has a number of former Oarai students helps explain how they did so well against Saunders," said Assam.

"It'll be nice to have another challenging team. BC Freedom had all the toughness of a limp noodle," Rosehip added.

"Congratulations on your win," said Hana. There was no enthusiasm in the tall girl's voice, and she continued staring at her tea.

"Hana," asked Darjeeling, "is something bothering you?"

"Yes. I had a message from Yukari this morning to give to you. I understand a similar message will be going to Anchovy via our friend Saori, one of the Ōarai veterans now on Anzio's team. It is vague, but Yukari said you would be able to explain. It concerns a friend from Ōarai. Although curious, I have not further looked for fear of what I might find."

"Have you heard this saying: If you know the enemy, and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles?" said Darjeeling.

"Very well," said Hana. "I was told to tell you that Saunders is working on a problem, and the problem is that 'the captain of Ōarai's Sensha-do team was Nishizumi Miho'."

For the first time in the recollection of any of the other girls in the room, Darjeeling spilled her tea outside of battle.

It took Darjeeling a few minutes to recover from her sudden coughing fit. Pekoe helped her back into her chair. "That… that is disturbing news. Neither of you follow Sensha-Do as a sport, correct? You'd have no reason to know who's who in the sport. We had been hoping that this mystery team from Ōarai would prove to be the key to defeating Kuromorimine, but it seems that the strongest player from Ōarai is currently Kuromorimine's captain."

Hana looked even more depressed. "I was there when the student council made the… suggestion that Miho take up Sensha-do. It upset her greatly to know that Ōarai was even forming a team. She had been happy to escape Kuromorimine. While we rekindled her love for tanks eventually, it was not the Kuromorimine way she came to love, but her own."

Yuzu grabbed her hand. "I was there as well. I was one that pushed that on her, to save the school. While I'm glad the ending was happy for her and Ōarai, I've always regretted what we did."

"If Saunders is working on the problem, they mean to somehow pry Miho from Kuromorimine," said Assam. "Do we know what caused her to leave in the 'delusion'?"

"Saunders seems to refer to it as the 'other lifetime'. I remember she lost a match against Pravda. She abandoned her tank to rescue girls in a tank that was sinking," said Hana.

"I remember the sinking tank from last year, but she didn't get out to help, she instead had her tank knock out two advancing Pravda tanks," said Rosehip. "Since then, we've been careful with water."

"Perhaps Saunders thinks it will take beating Kuromorimine to get her to appreciate that other ways of Sensha-Do are just as valid and provide her with an out. If so, we will have our shot first," said Darjeeling confidently. "If you two would join us in the garage, Rosehip is ready to start testing her newest toy. But first, are there any questions?"

Pekoe raised her hand. "Pekoe?" asked Darjeeling.

"Did you bring back any more popcorn?"

* * *

"So, Momo, what's the total damages?" said Anchovy, rubbing an icepack against her forehead.

"They may turn out to be surprisingly light. We've had donations from some impressed alumni, we made a lot of money from concessions at the match, and the Film Club has offered a sizable incentive to set up some kind of a cross-marketing deal for the footage of the tank chase, and in fact want to work with us on some projects." Momo swished her cape as she set down the report in front of Anchovy on the Duce's massive desk. "We've paid for almost all of the damaged stalls, and the Art Club has agreed to help us restore the fountain."

"And what are the psychiatric bills going to be for those of us that now have a memory of a match that never happened? Half the team is now reporting having strange dreams!"

"I don't think it's a bad memory," said Pepperoni, sitting at one of the lesser tables in the room and eating a plate of spaghetti.

"In this 'other lifetime', we lost to some no-name school! And not just lost, it was a blowout," groaned Anchovy, who was stretching to reach the riding crop at her desk, but quickly gave up.

"Because of that loss, we have gained much in wisdom," said Caesar. "It allowed us to nearly defeat Saunders."

"And it wasn't a no-name team we lost to, we lost to Miho Nishizumi," added Carpaccio.

"I'm cancelling my vendetta against Saunders and St. Gloriana, and changing the target to her and Kuromorimine," Anchovy groaned dejectedly.

"I thought you cancelled your vendetta against Saunders after the match the other day when they explained what happened?" asked Carpaccio. "They certainly made us a bunch of money."

"Their concession manager sent me an email offering a lot to get Anzio Pizza to go to Hokkaido with them for their match against Pravda, even before we talk about the money we'd make from sales," said Momo, tapping her clipboard.

"That's because Saunders pizza is no good," said Pepperoni, one of the team's experts on food. "It's that deep dish abomination."

"Saori, didn't you say you have a friend at Pravda?" Anchovy turned to Saori, who had been leafing through Anzio's recipe files looking for something new to try. "If you went along, we'd be sure to be a success."

"If she goes along," said Pepperoni, "she should do so to see her friend. I'm more than willing to do the cooking."

"I doubt we'd run into my friend at a Sensha-do match," replied Saori, smiling at the unexpected assistance. "And I don't mind cooking. Still, the way luck seems to work, it's worth a shot."

* * *

In a bleak office lit by a bare bulb, two girls stood around a planning table. Arranged on the table were photographs, reports and files. One report, marked with a cover with nothing more than a big red Secret, seemed to be the primary focus of their attention.

"[You read the report?]" said the first girl, a blonde foreigner, in fluent Russian.

"[Yes, twice,]" said the second, a tall girl with dark hair, also in fluent Russian. "[It still does not make any sense, Klara.]"

"[Yes, but they are acting like this makes sense, Nonna,]" Klara said. "[Besides, all these spy reports match up too well.]"

"[When things match up too well, something is not right,]" Nonna replied. "[Yes, according to the records we found, all these girls did attend Ōarai last year before it closed.]" She pointed to one stack of photographs. "[Still, none of these girls could possibly have any Panzerkraft experience.]"

"[And yet this one has been spotted several times with Kay,]" Klara pointed to a photo of a girl with fluffy hair, "[And she was with Arisa on Anzio. The Internet videos of their chase confirms that much.]"

"[We got lucky none of our own agents got caught in the resulting mess,]" said Nonna.

"[Posing our agents as tourists looking to visit the various schools is much superior to purchasing uniforms and sneaking on by container ship,]" said the Russian. "[On that note, I have prepared a warning letter for the Discipline Committee, and will attach this girl's picture.]"

"[Good, what of the others?]"

"[These two have been spotted with Rosehip working on her latest project.]" Klara pointed to pictures of a pair of girls in blue. "[Their Cromwell program has otherwise not been as successful as they would like, as they have had issues with both training and mechanical issues. Still, properly used, they might pose a threat to Kuromorimine.]"

"[Might is a strong word. Besides, I'd rather face St. Gloriana than Kuromorimine in the Tournament Finals, even if beating Kuromorimine would be more satisfying.]"

"[And last, Anzio. Although out of the tournament, they showed a lot of promise for a school that as of last year couldn't field enough tanks to fully qualify. And these six definitely are new to the team.]" Klara picked up one of the pictures. "[We'd definitely have noticed girls dressed like this.]"

"[I wish I could say that Anzio did so well because Saunders has gotten weaker,]" added Nonna, "[but if anything, Saunders has gotten stronger as well. Their tactical commander, Arisa, normally not known for anything other than staying safely in the rear, reacted much faster than expected to the threat. Their other tank crews responded properly to deal with the threat once it was identified.]"

"[If this intelligence is somehow accurate, it also explains why Kay's tank was so effective,]" said Klara.

"[Have you told anyone else about this?]" asked Nonna.

"[Given the sensitivity, I have sworn the intelligence chief that prepared the report and the girl that got the information at the Saunders – Anzio match to secrecy. Other than that, nobody else knows.]"

"[Make it known that if this information leaks there will be grave consequences,]" Nonna replied. "[Leave me the copy of the report, and lock everything else up. I will need to take this up to the top level.]"

"[There is a problem…]" said Klara, but she was startled by the door behind them opening suddenly, causing the girls to jump. Klara grabbed a pen off the table, and held it ready to stab the intruder, but Nonna grabbed her arm and intervened.

The small girl that entered looked up in surprise. "I thought I heard something in here," she said in Japanese. "I didn't realize you were using the room for a meeting."

"Katyusha!" exclaimed Nonna. "This is supposed to be a secret meeting! You know there are strict penalties for this sort of thing."

"But… but I was working on a plan for the upcoming battle, and I wanted you to see it," the smaller girl looked like she was about to cry.

"We can discuss your violation of the team rules tomorrow," said Nonna, "and we can discuss your plans afterwards."

"[She is so cute when she makes those eyes,]" said Klara in Russian.

"[I don't have the heart to actually punish her,]" replied Nonna.

"What did she say? I don't speak Russian," said Katyusha, trembling with fear.

"She said at her old school, back in Russia, the penalties for barging in on an officer were very strict," said Nonna. "Now, I'd suggest you leave and go make sure your tank is in perfect shape."

"Yes, Commander." Katyusha turned and left the room. Nonna locked the door behind her.

"I do want to see her plan, though. She is surprisingly gifted as a tactician despite her small size and immature attitude," Nonna explained.

Klara looked at the pictures on the table, "It's good to know we're not the only Sensha-Do team with some unusual members. I come here to learn the Japanese style of Sensha-Do, and I learn you Japanese are as crazy as we Russians." She switched back to her native tongue. "[I guess for both Katyusha and this Ōarai, it's 'Small in body, big in deeds'.]"

"[Which reminds me,]" said Nonna, picking up the classified report. "[I have to take this to the Student Council. I just hope they will listen.]"

* * *

Next: XXIV: Pravda, Justice and the Saunders Way

Author's Notes: Welcome to Pravda! Klara manages to get screen time right away.


	24. Pravda, Justice and the Saunders Way

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXIV: Pravda, Justice and the Saunders Way

by Civilis

* * *

"Whose brilliant idea was this?" chorused Kay and Naomi mockingly from the pilots and copilot's seats of the Saunders C-47, to keep up with the tradition.

"It was Yukari's idea, and while not brilliant, it seems better than our last plan," Arisa reluctantly admitted. "Do you have everything?"

Yukari opened her sleepy eyes. "Huh? Yeah, I think. I shouldn't have stayed up too late watching movies. Whose idea was it to watch The Experts after Firefox?"

"I think the girls don't understand what these spy missions are like," said Arisa. "I was with you on the last one, and I don't understand what these spy missions are like."

"Just for that, you're going with Yukari on her next spy mission after this one," said Kay.

"But… Fine," said Arisa.

Naomi grinned at Kay. "She didn't put up much of a fight. I suspect she secretly enjoyed Anzio."

"Whatever you send me on can't possibly end up as bad as Anzio," Arisa griped. "Heck, going to Pravda can't possibly end up as bad as Anzio." She turned to Yukari. "Give me the gel, I'll fix up your hair as much as I can."

* * *

"This is boring," said one of the Pravda Discipline Committee members watching the gang plank to the courier ship that served as a ferry for passengers between the School Carrier and shore. "What does the Student Council think is going to happen?"

"Could be worse, we could be freezing our rears off watching the supply ship unload,' the other replied. "Do you think this has anything to do with that incident at Anzio?"

"That was awesome! I wish something like that would happen here!"

"Yeah! We have all those tanks, might as well have fun with them." She adjusted her massive hat, and turned to the girl coming up the gangplank. "Papers, please."

The girl, who had dark, slick backed hair tied up in a frizzy bun in back, handed over a piece of paper.

"Name and school?" the guard asked.

"Suzumiya Haruka, St. Gloriana Tea Appreciation Club. I'm here to meet with your club."

The girl reviewed the paper. "You may proceed."

Yukari took back the paper, and headed up the stairs towards Pravda's main deck as calmly as possible.

Given the most recent trip, she had determined to try something different this time. It had come to her when she had spotted a St. Gloriana student walking around Saunders. While the Sensha-Do teams were generally protected against outsiders, and Saunders students would be suspect at Pravda due to the upcoming match, other clubs sent members back and forth to their counterparts at other schools all the time. She had traced the St. Gloriana girl to the Saunders Riding Club, where she was participating in an exchange to compare English and Western riding styles. Arisa had used an excuse to get and copy the girl's pass from St. Gloriana, and a member of the Computer Club had made the necessary modifications. It would probably serve as long as she didn't get too close to any tanks.

She opened the door at the top of the stairs and promptly almost walked into a parked T-34. Yukari quickly recognized it as a T-34/76 model 1943, a common model, and one Saunders would have plenty of information on. This particular tank had been painted with slogans extorting students to help the Sensha-Do team to "Crush Saunders!" and "Fight For Pravda!"

She edged past a suspicious Discipline Committee member, designated at Pravda by having a high peaked cap in addition to their standard armband. The girl looked at her. Yukari prayed that her hair would stay in place. Given that her hair had been her most recognizable feature in videos of Anzio's antics, she had gone to her father and asked him for help in making her look different. She didn't want to cut her hair, but attempts to hold it in other than its natural fluffy state in the past had ended in spectacular failures. After careful work and massive amounts of ultra super strength hair goop, they had gotten most of it to look straight that morning before leaving Saunders, and it had taken continual touchups to keep it that way.

"You there," the Discipline Committee girl called. "What are you looking at?"

Yukari decided to take a risk. "This tank," she replied, trying to mimic Hana's cultured tone as much as possible. "We don't have any like this at St. Gloriana. I'm here from the Tea Appreciation Club. I'm supposed to meet up with someone from your tea club. Do you know where I could get directions?"

"You can ask at the Discipline Committee office, over on Lubyanka Street. Head up towards the bow six blocks, then left and over four blocks to starboard. It's a big building, you can't miss it," the girl pointed.

Yukari headed off. While walking in on the Discipline Committee office didn't sound like the best idea, it was the only option she had at this point, so she could think while walking. Pravda, despite the reputation, wasn't actually that different from Saunders or Anzio, especially when you got away from the Sensha-Do team. The biggest difference was the piles of snow. Despite it being late spring, Hokkaido had experienced a late snowfall, and Pravda had been caught in it. Piles of white snow were everywhere, as the limited vehicle traffic kept it relatively clean. She caught a couple of girls in a section of park throwing snowballs, and one smaller girl struggling to put up a snowman.

The smaller girl looked familiar. Yukari wandered over to watch, as the girl struggled to lift a large ball of snow on top of another one.

"Need any help?" Yukari asked.

"No, I can handle this myself. I am a Pravda tank commander!" said the smaller girl.

"Katyusha?" Yukari asked, finally recognizing the girl who had been Pravda's commander in the other timeline.

"You know of the great Katyusha?" asked Katyusha.

"Uh… yeah, I heard there was a great and strong, though somewhat small, girl at Pravda from a friend here," Yukari replied, nervously. "I was here to visit the Tea Club, but I saw you and thought you looked…"

"Cute?" asked Katyusha, bitterly. "That's all anyone thinks of me. Katyusha is more than cute. Katyusha could be a great commander, if only the Commander would listen to her plans."

"I'm sure there are people here that recognize your talents," Yukari replied, hoping to soothe the girl before she caused a scene. "I'm sure you will one day lead Pravda to greatness."

"Hmmph. Katyusha needs to sit down." The girl turned and walked away.

Yukari, relieved, resumed her walk towards the Discipline Committee office.

One of the girls throwing snowballs turned to Katyusha as she walked over. "Who was that?"

"Someone capable of recognizing greatness, Nina," said Katyusha. "You are a skilled loader, but there are still some things you need to learn."

Nina peered at the girl in the St. Gloriana uniform walking away, and pulled out a picture she had been given at the team meeting that morning. The hair was wrong, but the face… "Katyusha! That's the Saunders spy we were warned about!"

Yukari, hearing this, tried to walk nonchalantly away.

"Hey! You! Stop!" called Nina.

Yukari turned around. "I'm sorry, I think you have me confused for someone else, I'm a St. Gloriana student," she said hesitantly.

"Someone! We have a spy!" Nina called out.

A powerful snowball hit Yukari in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground and dislodging the goop and hair ribbon holding her hair back. All at once, it sprung back to its natural fluffy state.

"[Seriously? We spy on Katyusha building a snowman and we end up capturing the Saunders spy?]" said an incomprehensible voice in what sounded like Russian.

"[I was sure the guards at the cargo port would catch her,]" said a different voice in the same foreign language. Yukari turned over to find herself staring up at Nonna, who was tossing up and catching a second snowball. Standing nearby was Klara, likely the other speaker.

"[We obviously must have a leak if she changed her infiltration tactics,]" said Klara. "[That definitely isn't one of our uniforms. We might never have noticed her if Nina hadn't recognized her.]"

Yukari wondered what the Russian was saying.

"[Too late to worry about that. We stick with the plan,]" said Nonna, before switching to Japanese. "So, here we have the legendary Saunders spy Akiyama Yukari. Excellent work, Nina. [Say something in Russian, Klara]"

"[What do you want me to say?]" said Klara.

"[Sound angry at the spy and Katyusha,]" Nonna replied.

"[Ok. Katyusha, you looked cute when building the snowman,]" said Klara, angrily. She glared at Yukari, then looked at Katyusha.

"She says that in Russia, your negligence would be worth a severe punishment, Katyusha." Katyusha whimpered. "We passed out those pictures for a reason," Nonna continued. "Nina recognized the spy, but you failed to. We will discuss this later on."

Nonna turned her gaze to Yukari. "As for you, we have ways of dealing with spies."

* * *

Yukari, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling, came to the unexpected conclusion that getting caught by Pravda wasn't all that bad. Given the isolation of the school ships, the Discipline Committees had 'brig' dorms where they could sentence the most unruly students to detention. You got a small dorm room with a simple bed. It wasn't as uncomfortable as spending a night on a supply ship, at least.

She had been carted off to the Discipline Committee building by Nonna and Klara, and from there had been escorted to the brig. The dinner wasn't up to Anzio standards, being a bowl of borscht, some hard bread, and some rice, but it was better than an MRE. She'd had a reasonably comfortable sleep, and it was morning, and hopefully time to find out what Pravda would do with her.

A member of the Discipline Committee led her to a room in the Discipline Committee building. It looked like it might have once been a club room, but most of the furniture had been recently removed, leaving a table with two chairs in the middle of the room. Somebody's desk light had been placed on the table. It was obviously put together by somebody that saw too many movies with interrogation scenes, but the fact that the desk light was pink with smiling cat stickers and that somebody had doodled on the chalkboard and it hadn't been fully erased detracted from the image.

Yukari sat in the far chair. Nonna entered, carrying a tray with a breakfast of fish and rice, and sat it down at the far end of the table, then sat down. Klara followed her in and shut the door.

"So, spy. Tell us what you are here for and you will find Pravda to be lenient," said Nonna.

"[Your shoelace is untied, and your hair sticks up in back]," added Klara in Russian.

"She says that had this been back in Russia, you would see what a real punishment is," said Nonna.

"[I had to check. I'm quite glad that few people around here actually speak Russian]," Klara added.

"[Indeed]," replied Nonna. "She says that no matter how strong you are, she could still break you."

"I came here looking for a friend," Yukari said. "Since the most recent incident at Anzio, and we're about to play you, I figured a disguise would work best to avoid something like this."

"[We could allow her to escape by stealing a tank,]" said Klara. "[That would give everyone something to film. It would be like that British spy movie. I understand Anzio was able to boost its recruitment after the chase there.]"

"[While that would be fun, let's stick to the plan,]" said Nonna. "She says she doesn't believe you. You are obviously here to find out our plans before the upcoming match."

"No, really," said Yukari. "I'm here to see a friend who went to Ōarai. Well, a friend of a friend. Her name is Reizei Mako."

The two Pravda students looked at each other. Before either could say anything, the door was shoved open. "First, you two take over our meeting room," said the girl from the Discipline Committee that barged in, "then our spy says she's looking for that delinquent?"

Klara reflexively grabbed a chopstick, while Nonna put herself between her assistant commander and the intruder. "We have authority here, not you. Were you listening at the door?"

"Sodoko!" said Yukari, startled to see the former head of Ōarai's Discipline Committee, although given both Pravda's reputation for being strict on discipline and the presence of her arch-enemy, Mako, her being at Pravda shouldn't have been that much of a surprise.

"That's Sono to you, spy!" Sodoko replied, angrily. "How do you know who I am?"

"I'm Akiyama Yukari! I'm a super spy! I know who everyone is, Sodoko." Sodoko's reaction combined anger at her nickname among friends being casually abused by a rulebreaker and fear that Yukari's lack of respect would spread to Pravda.

Klara and Nonna tried to keep their faces as impassive as possible.

"We may hand the spy over to you when we are done with her," said Nonna, as she glared at the Discipline Committee member. "Now step outside and make sure nobody disturbs us without Student Council authorization." Sodoko reluctantly stepped outside, and Nonna closed and locked the door.

"[I'm surprised half the Discipline Committee wasn't listening at the door with her, and that nobody has barged in here looking for an autograph. You know how popular the internet videos from Anzio are,]" said Klara.

"[True. Anyway, the faster we get this over with, the faster we can get her out of here,]" said Nonna. She turned to Yukari. "You are lucky we abide by the regulations here. There is a courier ship run scheduled for this afternoon. If you cooperate, you will be leaving on it. Now, why did you come here to Pravda?"

"I came here to see a friend, Reizei Mako. She may be able to help me with a problem," said Yukari.

"Why should I believe you? Were you and Arisa looking for a friend of yours at Anzio?" asked Nonna.

Yukari laughed nervously. "Yeah, that didn't go according to plan. And, admittedly, we were looking for intelligence as well at Anzio, given their recent purchases. But we know what you have: an IS-2, a bunch of T-34/85s, and the rest T-34/76s. Did Katyusha beg you to let her use the KV-2? She seems fond of that one."

Behind Nonna, Klara's grip tightened on the chopstick she had been holding.

"What's this problem?" asked Nonna, her voice taking on a more intimidating edge.

Yukari scratched her hair. "This is going to sound crazy, but there are a bunch of girls from the old Ōarai Girls Academy that remember being on a Sensha-do team that never existed. Mako should have been on that team."

"[This has to be some kind of elaborate prank. They've obviously turned some of our agents,]" said Klara.

"[But to what end? What do they gain from exposing that they've turned our people? Why would three schools team up like that for a joke?]" Nonna replied. "[Besides, unlikely as it sounds, we've seen evidence that it's the truth.]" She pushed the tray of breakfast across the table to Yukari. "We'll be back."

Nonna and Klara left the room.

Yukari looked down at the food, and at the single remaining chopstick. She walked over to the door and knocked on it. Hearing no response, she tried the doorknob, which turned in her hand.

"Hey! You're not supposed to be out of there!" called Sodoko, sitting in a chair watching the door.

"It's a club room. You can't lock it from the outside," she replied. Yukari could see a fair number of interested Discipline Committee members watching her, including Sodoko's former Ōarai Discipline Committee underlings, sitting nearby at a desk. She pointed at the pair. "Gomoyo! Pazomi! Can one of you throw me a spare pair of chopsticks?"

"No fraternizing with the prisoner!" Sodoko ordered.

"Rules for treatment of prisoners specify you can't deny me breakfast," Yukari countered. "Klara walked off with one of my chopsticks."

Seeing that the rules had been invoked, Sodoko nodded to the pair, one of whom rummaged in the desk and produced a cheap pair of takeout meal chopsticks, which she brought over to Yukari.

"Thanks, Gomoyo!" said Yukari, causing the girls to glare at her.

Yukari smiled at Sodoko. "Super. Spy." She then quickly shut the door.

It took Nonna and Klara more than an hour for their mysterious errand, leaving Yukari plenty of time to finish her breakfast. Feeling bored, she managed to find a piece of chalk on the floor and began doodling on the chalkboard. She was almost finished with a decent sketch of the T-28 Super Heavy Tank when the door opened to admit the Pravda tankers.

"Sorry for the dela… what are you drawing?" asked Nonna.

Yukari, feeling that there was no sense in leaving without giving Pravda something to worry about, quickly erased most of the drawing in a deliberately clumsy fashion. "Oh, nothing."

"In the interests of détente, we have decided to humor you," said Nonna. "Reizei Mako has agreed to meet with you."

"[I can't imagine someone that lazy ever taking up Panzerkraft. I mean, we had to bribe her! All this to help an enemy spy carry out their mission!]" Klara complained.

"[I know, I know. But orders are orders,]" said Nonna, sympathetically. "Come on, spy," she said, gesturing to Yukari, "you can talk to your friend, and then we can be rid of you."

"Thanks, you two. This is confusing for all of us, so I can understand if you don't believe it," Yukari said, sheepishly.

Nonna led Yukari from the improvised interrogation room to a small classroom down the hall, where Mako was sitting at one of the desks, reading a book. "If you two want to listen in to make sure I'm not doing some spy trick, you're welcome to do so," Yukari told Nonna and Klara.

"No need," said Nonna. "We'll keep the Discipline Committee from listening outside." The two tall girls stood next to the doorway.

Yukari entered the classroom and sat down next to Mako.

Without looking up from her book, Mako said, "The Sensha-do team got me out from class, so I owe you at least a listen, whoever you are."

"How's your grandmother doing?" asked Yukari, sincerely. Mako's feisty grandmother had been a favorite of most of the team at Ōarai.

"She doesn't like the cold in Hokkaido," Mako replied, surprisingly angrily. "I don't remember you from Ōarai, and I don't remember anything about tanks, so I think this is a waste of time even if I believe the crazy story you told the Sensha-do team about another timeline. Why did you come all this way?"

"Because you were a friend, and you needed friends. And in the end, I think you, or the you in the other timeline, came to make friends and have fun doing Sensha-do, even if she would never admit it. For her, I felt obligated to give you the same option, since you are her."

"Why would anyone get up that early to sit in a freezing cold tank?" Mako groaned. "They get me out of bed too early here as it is, and the Sensha-do people are up well before I am and they're stricter than the rest of the school. Even the Discipline Committee is scared of Nonna and her Russian assistant."

"At Ōarai, they offered you 200 free late passes for class for joining the team, and even then Saori had to remind you of what your grandmother would say if you got held back before you would agree to join," Yukari reminisced, smiling. She knew Mako had been possibly the other person least interested in joining Ōarai's team besides Miho herself, and knew this would be a tough sell. Still, she had vowed to make the attempt.

"And so you expect me to transfer to Saunders for you, without being able to promise me that?" Mako asked cynically, as she lazily turned the pages in her book.

"Or you could do Sensha-Do here. I'm sure the team could use a quick learner like you. You can probably get them to offer you something for joining the team. Besides, Sodoko wouldn't risk the wrath of Nonna by hounding one of her players."

Mako put her book down, and for the first time really looked at Yukari. "You came all this way to get me to join the team here, which I've been informed will be playing against you? Why?"

"Because Saunders likes a fair fight, and deep down inside, Nonna and Klara are good people. And Katyusha, as well, once you get to know her. Besides, if Saunders and St. Gloriana both lose, I want… need Pravda to win the finals. If I can give Pravda the edge to do that, and I can reconnect with a friend, even one that doesn't remember me, then I've accomplished my mission here," Yukari said.

"I'll… think about it," Mako said reluctantly.

"I'll tell Saori and the rest that you and your grandmother are doing okay." Yukari got up and walked over to the door and knocked.

"Is that it?" asked Nonna, as she opened the door.

"Yep!" She turned back to the girl at the desk, and called, "See you around, Mako!" before stepping into the hallway, where Klara was tapping away at her phone.

"[We've got authorization to just dump her off on the courier ship,]" Klara said. "[Are you sure we can't let her steal a tank before she goes?]"

"[The Discipline Committee's already annoyed with us,]" Nonna replied. "Come on, spy. We're sending you home." She led Yukari and Klara to a parked ZIS-5 truck, green with Pravda markings, where she indicated Yukari should hop in the back. Once Yukari had climbed in, Nonna followed, and Klara climbed into the cab and started the drive back.

Shortly after pulling away, Yukari noticed another truck following them, with three familiar girls in bowl haircuts crammed into the cab. "You know, if you ever need more people on your team, those three Discipline Committee Commissars would be great for morale," she said, pointing at Sodoko, Gomoyo, and Pazomi, "and it would be easy to get them to join. Just say something about how 'it would improve school morale to see the Discipline Committee contributing to the team effort'."

The drive to the docks was short, and Yukari and company reached the bottom of the steps just as the gangplank was being put into place between the arriving courier ship and the School Carrier.

"Thanks for your hospitality!" Yukari waved back at the Pravda team members as she crossed the bridge.

"See you at the match," replied Nonna. Next to her, Klara waved.

As Yukari disappeared down into the inner heated passenger section of the courier ship, Nonna turned to Sodoko, who had followed the group down. "You, stay here, keep an eye out until the ship leaves. Klara, you're with me."

Sodoko looked like she was about to object, but a glare from Nonna caused her to stop.

"[Where to?]" asked Klara.

"[Now, the hard part. Wish me luck, I have to meet with the Chairman.]"

* * *

Next: XXV: Lost and Found

Author's Note: I'm always trying to balance the school's chosen theme with the fact that it's still a high school. Also, another nod to Yukari's portrayal in the GuP Ribbon Warrior spin-off, where she's regarded in story as the next Fujiko Mine.


	25. Lost and Found

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXV: Lost and Found

by Civilis

* * *

"I take it from your expression, Yukari, that Pravda wasn't nearly as exciting as Anzio?" asked Kay as the Saunders C-47 headed back towards the School Carrier.

"It had to be better than Hokkaido," added Arisa, who was clutching a can of tea with shaking hands. "At least, it couldn't have been any colder." She shivered in the radio operator's seat of the plane.

"Aside from the moment when I got hit with a snowball, it was pretty calm," Yukari admitted.

"While we were trudging through the snow-covered steppes of Hokkaido looking at the Pravda Tankery range, you were having a snowball fight," Arisa griped back. "And to make it worse, we just about get the place scouted out when we get word that they're moving the field to the alternate, so the whole thing was useless."

"It was just one snowball. Though it was enough to knock me down and knock my hair loose."

In the pilot's seat, Naomi laughed. "All that goop we used on it, and for nothing. Is that when they made you?"

"They had already made me, that's why they threw the snowball," Yukari confessed.

"One of the perks of being famous," said Kay. "So, was this after you met with Mako?"

"No. For some reason, Nonna herself arranged the meeting after I was a prisoner and even told Mako the story I told her. I still went through telling Mako everything."

"I still think it's a big risk doing that ahead of our match with Pravda," said Arisa. "They could still use her. Did you run into anyone else?"

"Yeah, I found the three girls from our Discipline Committee. They're basically doing the same thing at Pravda as they did at Ōarai," Yukari said with a smile. "It seems to be in their blood, and Pravda's a great place for people like that."

"So we learned nothing, and possibly gave Pravda some new skilled members," Arisa groaned.

"I do think that while Nonna is their team commander and Klara is her deputy, Katyusha is going to be helping them plan," said Yukari.

"I know Nonna. Who are Klara and Katyusha?" asked Arisa.

"Klara is a Russian exchange student, and a capable tanker. Katyusha was their commander in the other timeline. She's a small girl, very immature, but a skilled tactician. She likes long, drawn out battles, and is good at planning traps. She's willing to use her flag tank as bait. We got lucky enough that, unlike Stalingrad, we could fight our way out of her encirclement." Yukari shivered at the memories of the Ōarai vs Pravda battle.

"Since they changed fields on us to one closer to Sapporo, it looks like, instead of General Winter, we'll be facing his deputy, Colonel Mud," said Kay. "Which is okay, as we've been repairing as many of the Shermans with wide tracks as we can."

"All right everyone, please strap yourselves in for landing," announced Naomi.

"When we land, Arisa, Naomi, head to your dorms to get some sleep. Yukari, write up what you know about your four friends from Pravda and about Klara and Katyusha," Kay ordered.

"What about you?" asked Arisa.

"I've got an errand to run," Kay replied.

* * *

"This is quite a splendid tank, Rosehip," said Hana, just after the tank came to rest from the recoil of its cannon. "I can see why you wanted a capable crew."

"That was a nice shot, Hana," Rosehip replied from the commander's seat, struggling to hold her teacup steady. "The tank's good, but not perfect."

Yuzu's voice came from the driver's compartment. "I wish we could get the bugs with the engine ironed out. The drive is rather unsteady at high speed."

"Our mechanical team isn't used to the Sensha-Do modified Meteor engine yet. It's based off of an airplane engine, and is a bit different from the Crusader engine our cruiser tank mechanics are used to. In theory, a fast tank section would give us an edge over Kuromorimine, but between the training and the engine issues it may be a matter of 'too little, too late'," Rosehip admitted.

"We do have aircraft mechanic students," said Yuzu. "Have they taken a look at it?"

"Can't hurt at this point," Rosehip admitted. "Let's get this tank into the garage and take one of the Cromwells."

They parked the tank, and Yuzu brought out one of the Cromwells while Rosehip, Hana, and their loader went over to talk to Darjeeling, who was supervising the gunnery practice.

"Looks like the uniform suits you, Hana," said Darjeeling, as she set down her tea. "I think the red is a splendid color, like that of a rose."

"That reminds me of a request," said Hana. "The day before our match with Kuromorimine, we have the team meeting in the evening. Would there be a way you could spare me some time that morning and early afternoon? While my mother may have disowned me, I still have spaces reserved at the family school Ikebana exhibit, and I want to make sure our club gets its arrangements in."

"Disowned you? Whatever for?" asked Darjeeling.

Next to her, Pekoe set down her teapot and pulled out her gloves.

"She thinks I should concentrate on the family Ikebana school, and disapproves of my taking up Sensha-Do," Hana explained.

"I think we can make arrangements. We did promise to help your club," Darjeeling said.

Hana, Rosehip and her loader crossed over to the waiting Cromwell, and soon were off on a drive to the more industrial vocational school section which taught technical and mechanical skills. They found the aircraft section hangars, where a couple of girls were at work on a reproduction Spitfire.

"Can we help you?" one of the girls asked, as Rosehip dismounted from the tank. "Is that one of your new toys? We've watched you drive it around, and engines are engines, even if they are installed in ungainly ground-bound armored boxes."

"It is. We're looking to see if anyone can help us with an engine problem," said Rosehip. "This thing has a modified aircraft engine, and it's not working right."

"Something certainly sounds off," said the mechanic. "Let's open her up."

A few minutes later, the group of tankers and aircraft mechanics were poking at the tank's engine.

After prodding at the engine with some tools, the lead mechanic turned to Hana. "The engine seems unbalanced and poorly tuned, but I'm also not sure about the linkages to the tank's transmission. That part seems to be more of something for the automobile crew."

One of her subordinates spoke up. "We did loan out one of our spare engines to that group that wanted to see if they could fit it in a car. Some kind of crazy challenge they had among the car people. Let's get them over here."

The tankers were escorted into an improvised lounge area while they waited for the automobile mechanics. The aircraft mechanics offered them coffee, which Rosehip found hilarious.

"Yes! Someone around here doesn't drink tea at all!" Rosehip eagerly took the opportunity to avail herself of something other than tea.

Eventually, a small mob of overall-clad car mechanics arrived and were directed to the parked tank.

"What's this?" asked the lead car mechanic. "You ask us for our help, and it's for a ground vehicle?"

"Take a look," said the lead aircraft mechanic. The pair walked over to jointly look at the tank.

Hana, curious, had wandered over to watch. In doing so, she spotted a familiar face in the crowd of mechanics.

"Satoko?" Hana asked.

"Yeah?" replied Nakajima Satoko, formerly of Ōarai's automotive club.

"Did you used to be at Ōarai?" Hana asked.

"Yeah. A couple of us are from there," Satoko replied.

The lead auto mechanic interrupted, "She's actually the person you probably should be speaking with. Her team's the one that rigged that aircraft engine into a car."

"Did it work?" asked Yuzu.

"It was very fast," said the lead mechanic. "While it lasted."

"We were trying to make our very own Top Gear special," said Satoko.

"Do you think you could fix a tank?" Hana asked.

"I'm not so sure this is a good idea," Yuzu looked at Rosehip for support.

Rosehip, who was on her sixth cup of coffee sludge and seemed to be vibrating slightly, yelled "Go for it!"

Satoko smiled widely, and walked over to the tank. "Tsuchiya! Suzuki! Hoshino! Get the tools!"

* * *

"Hello again," said Kay, walking into the gym being used for volleyball club practice with a clipboard full of paper.

"Congratulations on your win," said the team captain. "You looking to borrow some of my members to try something else out? Serve your clipboard, perhaps?"

"No, I just wanted to ask you a quick question. Do you have many contacts with volleyball teams at any other schools?"

"Of course, why do you ask?"

"I'm looking for someone who might know anyone from one of the other teams. Specifically, I'm looking for anyone that might know anyone that was on Ōarai's team before they closed down last year," said Kay. This was a longshot, she knew, but she had to start somewhere.

"They didn't have much of a team last year, but I can help you with that," said the team captain. "Noriko, over here!"

The shorter girl that had helped Kay with her attempts to figure out how to serve a smoke flare got up from her seat against the wall and jogged over. "Hey, Kay. Do you want me to try teaching you again?"

The team captain gestured to Noriko. "Noriko here was at Ōarai last year. Do you know where any of your other teammates ended up?"

"It wasn't much of a team. Most of them were third years, and glad to graduate. I don't know if we would have had enough girls for a team if the school hadn't closed," said Noriko, somewhat bitterly.

"What's your family name?" Kay asked.

"Isobe."

Kay scanned the list of transfer student names. "You said you transferred from Ōarai? I don't see you on here."

"There was a mistake on the paperwork. For some reason, instead of a high school transfer, they had me down as a new first year, like those three," she pointed at the three larger girls sitting against the wall, "My grades weren't that great, but I did advance."

"Are those three from Ōarai as well?" Kay asked, trying not to show her excitement.

"Yeah, they were on our middle school team. They would have been my teammates this year. It's nice here, we have a real team, but we have a ways to go before we're on our main squad," Noriko said.

Kay looked at the volleyball team captain and grinned. "I'm working on a project. I'd like to borrow Noriko and those three over there for a day or two, minimum, later this week. What would it take to get your cooperation?"

"Is this that important?"

"Captain, I know we're not the best players, coming from a small school and joining your massive team, and you've been nice, but we're on the bench. We can help them out," Noriko said.

"All right. Taeko, Shinobu, Akebi! You three and Noriko will be helping the Tankery team with something later this week!" the team captain called. "Be sure to do us and Saunders proud!"

* * *

"[Why can't I film this?]" pleaded Klara, in Russian.

"[Because I'm having a hard time keeping a straight face as it is,]" replied Nonna, as the two barged into the Pravda Discipline Committee building on Lubyanka Street and pounded up the stairs.

All the Discipline Committee members turned and watched as the two stomped up to Sodoko, busy planning with Pazomi and Gomoyo.

"Yes?" asked Sodoko. "Is there another spy problem?"

"I have just come from from the Student Council. It has been suggested that the dedicated members of our Discipline Committee would be more than willing to help us to improve school morale and ensure team loyalty in advance of the upcoming match with Saunders," Nonna declared loudly.

Most of the Discipline Committee members moved closer to listen. Gomoyo and Pazomi backed away from their leader.

Nonna leaned over towards Sodoko. "Given your known skill at keeping Reizei in line and your interest in our spy, I would like you and your two assistants to help the team for the good of the school."

Sodoko looked like she was about to object, but Nonna's glare kept her silent.

"Are you willing to volunteer?" Nonna asked.

Sodoko nodded her head weakly.

"Good. Practice field, first thing in the morning tomorrow."

"[I cannot believe this is working!]" added Klara. "[We just walked in and volunteered three members of the Discipline Committee!]"

"[We haven't built up our reputation for nothing,]" Nonna replied. "She says there will be strict punishments if you do not show."

The rest of the building was absolutely quiet as the pair marched out.

* * *

"Yukari, I need to apologize," said Kay, as the pair drove in one of Saunders jeeps toward the School Carrier's movie theater multiplex. "We've had a lot of confusion because there are things we know that we don't know that you don't know, and vice versa."

"Like what?" asked Yukari.

"We knew Miho Nishizumi was one of Kuromorimine's rising stars. You knew her as a girl that wanted to escape Sensha-Do. Both of us assumed our knowledge was correct," Kay said. "Pull out the clipboard in my bag."

Yukari pulled out the clipboard and papers from Kay's bag. "This is the list of students from Ōarai you had me look over."

"It's the list of high-school transfer students from Ōarai, so it's only current second and third year students. It doesn't include rising first year students that came from middle school. The Education Ministry categorizes those differently."

"And so it wouldn't show any of the first years…" Yukari realized.

"Or a second year that had been mistakenly listed as one. That's why we're going to the theater a bit before our movie night. I hope you don't mind Goldeneye, since you missed out on a tank chase at Pravda." Kay asked.

Kay parked the jeep in front of the multiplex, and the pair tried to head inside, only to be stopped by a student working as an usher. "Sorry, all theaters are booked for priv… Kay! I thought you'd be inside already? Your film is almost over."

"No, the film wasn't for me. Did you leave the doors open?" Kay asked, as they passed the usher.

"Yeah. I think a couple of the Movie Club girls snuck in. I guess even a movie more than seventy years old is more interesting to some people than The Devil Wears Prada. Are we still running your other movie in an hour?"

"Yep. My people should be in by then," said Kay, as the pair of tankers headed in to the multiplex.

"What movie did you have them show?" asked Yukari.

"Sahara, starring Humphrey Bogart," said Kay, as she headed in to the darkened theater. "The Movie Club is really good about letting us borrow a theater, but the club leader has somewhat stilted tastes in movies. I've been hearing rumors, so I wanted to check something."

On the screen, the credits were just starting. The room looked almost empty, although a couple of heads could be barely made out among some of the middle seats. Yukari headed in to find a good seat for herself. She plopped down in a seat near the very middle, next to one of the girls that had snuck in.

"Did you enjoy the movie?" Yukari asked, but the girl seemed preoccupied with watching the occasional dust mote float through the projector beam.

After the credits finished, and someone in the audience quipped "What? No stinger?", the house lights came on.

Yukari turned to get a better look at the girl next to her, and discovered herself staring at the familiar face of Maruyama Saki, who had been one of her teammates at Ōarai. The girl didn't seem to recognize her, but Saki had always been somewhat spacey, and was even now looking for something else to catch her attention.

Yukari waved at Kay to get her attention, but Kay just winked back at her.

"All right, everyone!" called Kay. "I hope you enjoyed this film brought to you by the Tankery Team! In return, I need a favor."

There was much groaning from the audience. Yukari, in the light, was startled to recognize a few of the other girls in the room as having been members of the Ōarai first years that had crewed the team's M3 Lee. The first years had been notorious as fans of old war movies, which had contributed to their being persuaded to take up crewing an actual tank for Ōarai.

Kay continued, "I understand the next Movie Club movie night is Twilight. I need some volunteers for a special project. If I can get some girls to help us out, I have copies of A Bridge Too Far, The Longest Day, Stalingrad, Tank, The Beast of War and Lebanon… all of them in HD… and I am willing to donate them to the Movie Club. In addition, I will be willing to coincidentally show my copy of Fury at the same time as Twilight. Is anyone interested?"

All the girls in the room, except Saki, raised their hands. Yukari fought the urge to raise her own.

"All right, my eager assistant will be picking the girls to help. Yukari?" Kay pointed to her in the stands, and she stood up.

"Hey! You're the girl from the internet!" came the call from one of the girls. "Is this for another one of your movies?"

"Something like that, yes." Yukari began pointing out the girls from Ōarai. "Azusa, Karina, Ayumi, Yuuki, and Aya. And Saki."

"Saki didn't raise her hand!" griped one of the girls.

"Saki looks like just the kind of girl we need for the part," said Yukari. "Azusa, can you make sure to bring her with you?"

Azusa nodded, "Sure. Saki may not say very much, but she's good at noticing things. She just tends to be a little spacey."

"Just come along to the Tankery team garages this weekend," said Kay. "And if any of you want to stick around, we'll be showing Goldeneye in a little bit. We have free popcorn and sodas!"

* * *

Next: XXVI: For Darjeeling and St. Gloriana

Author's Note: Hopefully, some of you caught the foreshadowing back at the beginning...


	26. For Darjeeling and St Gloriana

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXVI: For Darjeeling and St. Gloriana

by Civilis

* * *

"You look fine, Yuzu," said Hana.

Yuzu fiddled with her kimono, decorated, like Hana's, with a delicate floral pattern. "I haven't worn one of these in a while."

Hana bent over to adjust one of the Ikebana club's arrangements. Around her, the final preparations for the Ikebana exhibit were in full swing. The whole exhibition hall was filled with the bright colors of flowers.

"Hana," came a voice from behind the pair.

Hana stiffened and turned around. "Mother!"

"I thought you had one of your Sensha-do events," Isuzu Yuri sniffed disapprovingly.

"I have not abandoned one art just because I have taken up a second," said Hana. "I have my students in the club to look out for as well."

Yuzu bowed to Hana's mother. "It is an honor to meet you, Isuzu-dono. I have learned much from your daughter."

Yuri looked over the Ikebana club's students and the arrangements they had prepared with a critical eye. "These are the work of amateurs," she said disapprovingly.

"These are the work of students," corrected Hana. "I have been at school for barely over a month, and they are quick learners, but still learning."

"And yet you waste your time on Sensha-Do," her mother chastised her. "Where are your pieces?"

Before Hana could answer, the cry of "Isuzu-dono!" came from down the hall. Both Isuzu ladies turned at the cry from Shinzaburou, an apprentice working for the elder Isuzu. "Your daughter's… please, come see…"

The young man caught sight of Hana and stopped. "Ah! Young miss! I didn't know you were here," he bowed apologetically.

Yuri stalked over towards the other end of the hall, most of the exhibitors clearing out of the path of the renowned Ikebana master. Hana, Shinzaburou, and Yuzu followed in her wake. She headed to a cluster of women standing around looking over a couple of arrangements, each a veritable explosion of color set in a tank-shaped vase.

"Yuri!" called one of the women, obviously a friend of the elder Isuzu. "Your daughter's works aren't that bad. I actually think they look quite novel."

"She's done a lot with color that brings out the strength of the arrangements," added another.

Yuri looked over her daughter's works for a few minutes. "While your arrangements represent a break from tradition," she grudgingly admitted, "I must admit that there has been no loss of skill, and most of them show you still have a good eye for color."

She pointed at an arrangement, a spray of red poppies and roses, white lilies and bluebells. "This one, on the other hand, I'm not so sure about. It's different, I'll say that much."

"That one isn't mine," said Hana.

They both looked at the card.

"I'm not sure who this is," Yuri admitted. "This is your table space, though, Hana."

Yuzu walked up to take a look. "It certainly smells familiar," she said. She had found that Ikebana was good for developing her sense of smell, and there was a distinct and different smell to the arrangement.

Hana took a good sniff, and caught a faint citrus smell, mixed with a very familiar scent. "It's tea. It almost smells like…"

"Darjeeling!" said Yuzu, catching sight of a familiar blonde head of hair making its way through the growing crowd. Behind her, a smaller orange head of hair could be seen trailing behind it.

"Yes, that one is mine," said Darjeeling. "I thought that a teapot would make a good vase, and the aroma of the tea left behind adds to the piece."

Both Izumis blinked at the sudden appearance of the outsider. Like most of the exhibitors, Darjeeling wore a kimono, though hers was in a deep red with a firework pattern rather than in the more subdued floral patterns of most of the rest of the women. She bowed to the elder Isuzu. "It is an honor to meet you, Isuzu-dono."

Behind her, Pekoe, wearing a more subdued orange kimono, somehow managed a reasonable repeat of the gesture while continuing to hold a teapot and a tray with two cups.

"Hana, this is…" stammered Yuri.

Hana drew herself up and smiled. "This is Darjeeling, commander of St. Gloriana's Sensha-Do team."

"I used my birth name on the piece," said Darjeeling. "I've dabbled in Ikebana for years, and when Hana said her club needed help, it became my duty to pitch in. It's an honor to meet both of the Ikebana masters of the Isuzu family. I was a bit distressed when I heard about Hana having some family difficulties." She took one of the teacups and took a sip.

Pekoe looked like she wanted to look menacing, but was stopped by the need to balance the tray of teacups. Shinzaburou moved to help the girl, but she managed to correct the tray in time, and stopped the man with a glance.

Yuri looked at Darjeeling for a long moment while she finished her tea and set it back down.

When the elder Isuzu finally spoke, it was with some regret. "While I don't always see eye to eye with my daughter, she is still my daughter, and I love her. While I would like her to dedicate herself to the family art, she is a grown woman, capable of forging her own path, and today she has shown that her skills are still improving and that she is still capable of teaching others."

She turned to her daughter. "Hana, I apologize for my rash behavior. Will you forgive me?"

Hana nodded, and hugged her mother.

Yuzu and Shinzaburou both sighed in relief.

"Have you heard this saying? 'The love of family and the admiration of friends is much more important than wealth and privilege'," quoted Darjeeling.

* * *

Hours later, as the group from St. Gloriana left the Ikebana exhibition, Hana turned to Darjeeling and Pekoe and said, "Thank you both for coming. I didn't know you had studied Ikebana."

"I've tried a lot of things. It's always interesting to learn something new. Admittedly, there are a few things I'm not so good at," said Darjeeling.

Behind her back, Pekoe shook her head and silently mouthed "Cooking."

Darjeeling continued, obliviously, "Assam and Rosehip wanted to join us, but Assam was finishing the plan for the match, and Rosehip…"

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that coffee would have that effect on her…" said Hana.

Darjeeling raised her hand to stop Hana before she could finish her apology. "I suspect it was more elation that she was finally able to see the Cromwell tank engine problems resolved. We even acquired a veteran Ōarai tank crew out of the whole adventure to crew one of the tanks."

"That first Cromwell is likely only safely crewed by the auto club, given what they did to it," Pekoe reminded her commander. "It seems to be legal, because they didn't modify the engine. Still…"

"A small price to pay to get the rest performing reliably. While we too often forget the vocational sections of the school, they are our classmates, and we are in this together," pontificated Darjeeling.

"Some of the alumni are complaining that we've lost sight of our traditions," Pekoe complained.

"The alumni can jump in a lake. The only reason we have a chance against Kuromorimine is because we've brought in new blood like Rosehip. If they had their way, we'd stick to the plodding old infantry tanks," said Darjeeling, bitterly.

"Don't you command one of those plodding old infantry tanks?" asked Hana.

Darjeeling stopped, turned, and looked at her, a serious expression on her face.

Pekoe stepped between Darjeeling and Hana, staring at the blonde.

After a nervous moment, Yuzu likewise interposed herself between the two.

Unexpectedly, Darjeeling laughed and smiled. "One of the reasons I like you, Hana, is because you are one of the only people that stands up to me and tells it like it is. Some would consider that crass. I, on the other hand, recognize that as the mark of a true lady."

Seeing that there wasn't really a threat, Pekoe relaxed, and Yuzu followed suit.

Darjeeling turned and resumed walking as she continued. "In some ways, I envy you. Since I came to St. Gloriana, I've had to work at living up to our standards, while you naturally picked up grace and poise from your mother. To my view, in many ways you've surpassed your mother, based on what I saw at your exhibition. Your mother needed you to validate her, whereas you instinctively know you can stand on your own at whatever you do. While most of our girls benefit greatly on and off the field from being taught British elegance and refinement, trying that with you would be counterproductive. The same goes for your protégé, who seems to be rapidly learning from you in many areas." Darjeeling nodded at Yuzu.

The group went silent for a few minutes, as they approached the docks where St. Gloriana's Sunderland flying boat was parked for their flight to Kumamoto to face Kuromorimine. The crew helped the four girls with their kimonos as they climbed aboard. The four quickly changed into their school uniforms as the plane backed away from the docks, then belted themselves in for takeoff.

"As far as the plodding infantry tanks go," said Darjeeling, resuming the conversation once they were airborne, "we have a significant advantage in having both the heavier infantry tanks and the fast cruiser tanks. Assam's plan is to take advantage of that. Rosehip has been one of the first officers we've had with the quick thinking to properly use maneuver to bring the fight to the enemy, and even if still somewhat unladylike, she's an asset to the team."

"Though please keep her away from coffee," added Pekoe.

"What about the auto club members?" asked Yuzu. "I'm not sure they even want to try fitting in."

"If we can strike a balance between fast and slow, heavy and light, our team can put up with a few more down-to-earth people. It'll be good for the rest of the team," said Darjeeling. "Although I'm unlikely to be able to sway the alumni to officially recognize them, what matters is the team itself. I'll personally make sure that the other current team members treat them properly."

"I suspect that won't be necessary," said Pekoe, happily. "The cruiser tank crews have already adopted those four as the saviors of speed. Seems a lot of the girls were secretly car buffs as well. With their help, I wouldn't be surprised if we've managed to tweak a bit more speed out of the Crusaders. There's a saying: 'Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.' Because of them, we're looking at an unparallelled ability to maneuver, which wouldn't be possible without the skill of the auto mechanics. Likewise, Hana and Yuzu, despite being outsiders, command respect because they're good at what they do and yet don't try to assert their superiority."

Darjeeling looked at her loader. "You know, Pekoe, that's the third time this evening you've surprised me, after you spent your time at the exhibition politely talking with the elder Isuzu's apprentice fellow and after you stood up for Hana. It's good to see you picking up some of the leadership responsibilities."

"He was impressed with my balance, so we were sharing exercise tips," said Pekoe, blushing. "As for the leadership, I, too had a good teacher."

* * *

"Wow, there's not a lot of people here," said Yukari, looking at the empty stands for the St. Gloriana vs Kuromorimine match from her vantage point at one end of the stands.

"Kuromorimine is heavily favored, and Kumamoto is a long way away from Yokohama, so not a lot of St. Gloriana students came to watch," explained Arisa. "So it's mostly a bunch of die hard Sensha-do fans."

"And given that the match is likely to be over quick, some of them may have gone to Hokkaido instead to see us face off against Pravda in two days," said Kay, who nodded in agreement.

"And Kuromorimine doesn't provide more than the basic concessions at their field, despite the short logistics train," added Erwin, seated nearby on a folding stool.

"They are known for their efficiency," added Oryou. "Spending time on cooking would take away from time that could be spent training."

"However, armies march on their stomachs," Saemonza contributed.

"And that's why the Romans were so big on building roads," added Caesar. "Logistics has always been important to armies."

"Why did we agree to bring those four with us?" asked Arisa, annoyed.

"We brought the Super Galaxy so we had plenty of space," said Kay. "Anchovy and her cooks are all headed to Hokkaido, and she asked us to look after them in return."

"That's… actually a good reason," said Arisa, remembering the History Club's cooking stall. "Still, why did you let them bring all their stuff?" She pointed at the screen and banners they had set up around the Saunders / Anzio camp.

"Because it looked fun?" asked Kay.

"And I assume that's why you made up your own sashimono as well?" Arisa pointed to the olive green banner decorated with four white stars at the bottom that Kay had added to the Anzio display.

"If they think I'm Patton, who am I to argue?" said Kay, grinning.

Kay got along well with the four history club members. Even if she didn't take the whole 'soul name' business seriously, she recognized that it was fun, and had insisted on bringing their whole camp to the match. The Saunders / Anzio group on a small rise next to the stands stuck out like a sore thumb, but it also served as advertising for the upcoming match, and more than one Sensha-do fan that had stopped to meet the girls had announced their intentions to catch the match in Hokkaido.

"Kay! You came!" came a call from the field, where the two teams were assembling in advance of the opening ceremony.

Kay waved at Darjeeling, who headed over to the Saunders vantage point with Hana, Yuzu and the four girls from the auto club in tow.

"Thanks for the invite. I take it there are no hard feelings from the practice match?" said Kay, once the two groups had met up.

"So much has happened since then," said Darjeeling. "I'd almost forgotten about that. Still, it would be beneath me to hold a grudge. We did send an invite to Pravda, but they didn't respond."

"Yeah, Naomi said that she thinks Pravda keeps a low profile," Arisa responded. "She's off to look into her hunch."

"Nice to see you again, Hana and Yuzu," said Kay. "The red uniform really looks good on you." She gestured to Arisa. "I'm sure you remember Arisa even if you haven't met yet."

"Not sneaking away this time?" asked Yuzu. "Are you repenting for all your dirty tricks?"

"I've been completely above board all year!" Arisa complained. "Will people stop hounding me about that?"

"And what happened at Anzio?" asked Oryou.

"Yukari was driving, not me!" said Arisa.

Kay interjected to spare Arisa any more grief. "So, who else did you bring to see us?"

"These are the members of our auto club that have been helping us with some engine issues," said Darjeeling, as she introduced the four.

"Hi Yukari!" said Satoko. "I understand you were the first to get mixed up in all of this weirdness?"

"Yeah, somehow. It's great to see you guys again. I take it you've got something special to show Kuromorimine?" Yukari asked.

"It's a little different from our last ride," said Tsuchiya, "but boy does it suit us."

"We almost had a fight over who got to drive," added Hoshino. "The problem is I'm the only decent gunner."

"I wanted to get into Sensha-do," added Suzuki, "but I never expected to get onto the team at St. Gloriana, even if it was by a very strange route."

"So what did you bring?" asked Yukari.

The four looked at each other.

"You'll see soon enough," said Satoko. "It's parked at the St. Gloriana staging area."

"Congratulations, Darj!" said Kay, realizing what this meant. "That's four more Ōarai veterans for you. I'm sure you'll have a great time together. I will admit they don't seem like your usual type, though."

"You'd be surprised," said Darjeeling. "I've learned a lot about accepting people's eccentricities. It will be good for St. Gloriana to learn and adapt. On the Ōarai front, how many are we still missing? A dozen?"

Arisa grinned smugly as Kay said "Four."

"Pravda has a couple," Yukari added. "And we've found a few at Saunders that we'd overlooked. For the missing, there's the gamer girls, for whom we have nothing more than internet handles. They might not even be together. And then there's…"

"…Anzu," Yuzu finished. "I'm surprised Anzu hasn't shown up somewhere. She's ruthless and cunning outside a tank. She also was a competent gunner and commander inside a tank, at least when she wanted to be."

Darjeeling looked at the colorful setup and the four History Club members as if studying it for the first time. "So, are these your new team members?"

"Ah, they're guests from Anzio, but formerly of Ōarai," Yukari supplied, then introduced the four.

Darjeeling accepted the introductions without question, and graciously smiled as the four debated what her soul name could possibly be. Elizabeth and Victoria were thrown around briefly before the group settled on the Iron Duke, the 1st Duke of Wellington, as having been a likely inspiration for Darjeeling's defensive style of Sensha-do and her military and leadership qualities. Darjeeling accepted the new nickname with a smile as an inspired choice.

She then turned to Erwin. "I guess that also explains why you fit in at Anzio." Seeing Erwin's puzzlement, she added, "Have you heard this saying: 'The German soldier has impressed the world, however the Italian Bersagliere has impressed the German soldier.' I take it Anzio's Duce is a more worthy leader than the original?"

Erwin smiled widely back at the St. Gloriana commander. "Yes, Anchovy is much more equal to the task than the Italian command. I'm impressed at your knowledge."

Darjeeling looked at Kay and smiled triumphantly. "Unlike 'Patton' over there, I actually read your book."

* * *

"Is that Miho?" said Hana, about fifteen minutes later, as the group at the Saunders / Anzio base camp exchanged small talk.

Most of the group immediately turned to look at the crowd.

"Where?" asked Yukari.

Hana pointed to small group in Kuromorimine gray uniforms moving towards the judges.

"It's almost time for the scheduled start time of the match," said Darjeeling. "We could stall and let you try to talk to her," she added.

"She's got Maho and a couple of their other commanders, as far as I can tell," said Yukari. "I doubt she'd believe me, and it would be interpreted as a trick since Darjeeling was just here meeting with us."

"Are you sure, Yukari?" asked Kay.

"I think we're not going to get through to Miho anywhere except the field. Darjeeling, Hana, Yuzu, Satoko, you guys, good luck. It sounds like you've put some work into it and might have a chance." Yukari gave the St. Gloriana girls a thumbs up.

"We're cheering for you, even if it means we have to defeat you again in the finals," Arisa added.

"Until we return, hopefully with our shelds instead of on them," said Darjeeling, and the cluster of red coats made their way over to their teammates to prepare for the opening handshake.

No more than a minute later, Naomi returned to the camp, out of breath. Her face showed signs of a mixture of excitement and worry.

"We've got a problem… Pravda," she said, panting.

"We've got two days until the match," said Kay, suddenly serious. "What's up?"

"I was hoping to figure out which of the scouts in the stands was from Pravda. They will want to get as up to the minute info on Kuromorimine as possible, so I knew there had to be one here. Anyway, I saw a girl I recognized from the stands at the Anzio match, about high school age, watching Kuromorimine. Anyway, she takes a message on her phone, and suddenly moves to the other side of the stands, behind St. Gloriana. But she doesn't watch them, she watches you," Naomi repeated.

"We did have Darjeeling visiting us. She kind of sticks out, and a tank fan might want to see her," said Arisa.

"There's more," said Naomi, grinning. "I was trying to switch my attentions between this spy, the stands, and Kuromorimine, when another girl sits down next to me, very similar to the first. High school age, casual clothes. She seemed kind of nervous. Said she was a tankery fan, asked me which school I was from."

"You'd think a tank fan would recognize a uniform from one of the big four," said Caesar.

"Should you four be part of this conversation?" asked Arisa, looking at the Anzio students.

"They're fine," said Kay. "Naomi, continue."

"Anyway, she started asking me questions, what kind of tank I'm in, what my position is. I fed her a little, mentioned we had a match coming up. She asked with who, and I said Pravda. Then the questions got more specific," Naomi leaned back against the truck. "Since I don't know the full plan, I fed her mostly reasonable stuff with the occasional embellishment. Told her we had awesome intelligence thanks to our spy network, which made her real nervous."

"When I was at Pravda, I hinted we had a T-28," said Yukari.

"I wish I had known that. Anyway, I pretended to completely fall for it, and I bought her a sandwich and soda from the vending machines while I checked to make sure the girl watching you was still there. Anyway, I started talking about the other schools. St. Gloriana, Chi-ha-tan, Ōarai…" Naomi stopped and looked at Yukari. "Guess which one made her even more nervous and interested?"

"Oh man," said Yukari, as she palmed her face.

"She dropped her phone she was shaking so badly. I picked it up, and it turns out her phone wasn't locked, and she has a Pravda school address. And right on the front was an email chain from someone at Pravda! What a surprise!" Naomi faked a surprised look. "Somebody sent them a message stating that you and Darjeeling were meeting and that Yukari was there as well, and not two minutes later there's a message back to a dozen girls with Pravda addresses asking for any info they can get at this match on Saunders and anyone else that was there with us, with special attention to anything involving Ōarai."

Kay started laughing uncontrollably, joined a moment later by the History Club members. Arisa just stared in amazement.

"It gets better. She was so shocked, I managed to send the email to my phone. I told her that nobody at Pravda has to know that she screwed up. So I'm getting two of those sandwiches Anzio prepared for us and a couple more drinks, and I'm going to watch the match with her while I see what I can get out of her. It looks like they just finished the handshake, so have fun!"

* * *

Next: XXVII: Blood, Toil, Tears, Sweat

Author's Note: The next gap in the story is in XX XVII,and several chapters after that are done. I'll be publishing the finished ones in logical groupings when I have a chance, however, every time I take a look at them, I find something minor to fix or improve.


	27. Blood, Toil, Tears, Sweat

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXVII: Blood, Toil, Tears, Sweat

by Civilis

* * *

The judge fired the flare gun to signal the start of the battle.

The audience went silent as the giant display screen revealed the lineups.

"Wow," gasped Arisa as she stared at the screen. "Kuromorimine's not playing around this year. They brought the Elefant and not one but both of their Konigstigers. Two Tigers, of course, with Miho having the flag. Four… no, five Panthers. Two Jagdpanthers and three Jagdpanzer IVs to round out the squad. No Panzer IIIs this year, not even any Panzer IVs. How did Ōarai ever beat this lineup?"

"I thought you remembered the other timeline?" Kay asked her subordinate.

"I remember our fight with Ōarai and things associated with that, and I still didn't catch that I was up against Nishizumi Miho," Arisa complained. "I don't remember anything about the final."

Yukari smiled weakly. "Kuromorimine actually has a few nastier toys. Still, St. Gloriana has a few surprises as well. Look at their lineup."

"We were right about them having two Churchills. Six Matildas, that's their standard infantry tank, so completely expected. Only three Crusaders?" Arisa looked over the list.

"Look at what they added at the bottom," said Kay, pointing to the list.

"Three Cromwells…" said Arisa, eyes going wide.

"… and a Comet," added Yukari, likewise impressed.

"Which one's the Comet?" Saemonza asked the Saunders commanders.

"It's a modified Cromwell chassis with a shortened, bored out 17pdr cannon in the turret. That's likely Rosehip's new command. Fast enough to outmaneuver Kuromorimine's tanks and powerful enough to pose a real threat to a Tiger," Yukari gleefully explained.

"Kuromorimine still has the edge in tanks, but if St. Gloriana can exploit their maneuverability advantage to get to Miho they have a chance," Kay explained to the History Club members.

"I just remember their tanks were big and hit hard, like American artillery," Erwin said.

"Or Hannibal's elephants," Caesar added. "Those particular memories are still vague."

On the screen, the gray Kuromorimine blocks formed into a tight wedge with the flag in the middle and headed towards the red starting point. Half of the red St. Gloriana blocks formed a wall just in front of the red flag block, while two smaller groups of blocks headed around Kuromorimine's wedge.

"It looks like the Crusaders are going to try a conventional hit around Kuromorimine's left edge," narrated Yukari to a video camera which she had set up pointing at the screen.

"What are you doing, Yukari?" asked Arisa. "You don't need to film the screen. We can just get a copy from the Sensha-do Federation after the match."

"The Movie Club wanted me to narrate the battle because, apparently, I'm popular on the internet after Anzio," Yukari explained. "They also want to have me sit down and do a series of shorts on the history of tanks."

"I was there too. They could have asked me," pouted Arisa.

"Weren't you the one that wanted to make sure nobody from Anzio could recognize you?" Kay reminded her. She thought for a second, then grinned and added "Although it does make sense to get more than one point of view for things like this." Arisa smiled, until Kay turned to the History Club members. "Erwin, you're a blitzkrieg expert. Why don't you tell our viewers what you make of Kuromorimine's tanks? We'll throw in a consulting fee credit and some of the proceeds for your club."

Erwin pulled her stool closer to Yukari, straightened her cap, and the rest of the History Club filled in behind her. "It looks like the Kuromorimine blitz is using their three heaviest tanks, the Elefant and the two Konigstigers, to protect the flag tank," she narrated.

"Like a phalanx," Caesar added.

"The heavy guns on those should have no problem penetrating even a Churchill's heavy armor well before the guns on the British tanks should pose a threat," said Yukari, switching back to her narrator voice.

"Yeah, but St. Gloriana is using a ridge to conceal their tanks, hoping to bring the enemy into bayonet range, and also giving more time for the flanking move by the cavalry," added Oryou.

The screen shifted to put the block display in a small window in the lower corner, while the main display switched to an aerial view from one of the Sensha-Do Federation spotter planes of the flank, where the three Crusaders were trading fire with Kuromorimine's flank.

The commander of the Panther on the far end had been keeping her eye out for a flank attack, and had spotted the Crusaders on the way in. On the screen, the Panther fired at the wildly maneuvering Crusaders as they closed in, eventually hitting one and knocking it out. The next tank, also a Panther, turned its turret to bring its gun to bear on the attackers as well. Still, the Kuromorimine line kept advancing towards the St. Gloriana Infantry tanks.

The two Crusaders passed behind the Panthers. One stopped and fired into the rear of the second Panther, knocking it out, while the second continued on, firing on the move into the backs of the JagdPanzer IVs that were next in line.

"It's odd," said Erwin. "Kuromorimine likes the low-profile panzerjäger like the JagdPanzer IV, but their low profile makes them better suited for defensive ambushes than offensive operations and the lack of a turret makes them much less useful in maneuver warfare, something St. Gloriana is taking advantage of. We at Anzio use our Semoventes as defensive ambushers."

The stopped Crusader had just barely began to move again when the surviving flank Panther hit it, knocking it out.

"Looks like the other Crusader has a shot at…" said Kay.

A powerful shot from offscreen sent the last Crusader spinning away, smoking. The scoreboard changed to show all three Crusaders as inoperative.

"Not a chance," said Yukari.

The airborne camera shifted slightly to show Tiger 212 angling across the back of the wedge to protect the flag Tiger. Maho herself could be seen in the turret cupola, shouting orders down into her tank to her crew.

The screen shifted back to the block view, showing the Kuromorimine line approaching the ridge behind which St. Gloriana waited. At the far flank from the recent engagement, the two Panthers and a JagdPanther had sped up to reach the side of the ridge to cover the main part of the line as it crossed the ridge.

"Where are the Cromwells?" asked Arisa.

Yukari pointed to a corner of the map, well behind the Kuromorimine line on the opposite side from the Crusaders.

"How did they get all the way back there?" Arisa asked, incredulously.

"You said they were fast," said Erwin. "What we could have done with those in the Blitzkrieg."

Saemonza pointed to a copy of the map. "Still, it doesn't make much sense. There's a moat in the way between them and the Kuromorimine rear."

Arisa looked at the map. "You're right, there's a dry irrigation channel, and no bridges nearby. Stupid St. Gloriana probably missed that. Even at that speed, it's going to be a while to detour."

"How wide is the culvert?" asked Yukari, smiling.

"Says here it's 5m wide and 3m deep with steep sides. No way to drive down," said Saemonza.

"Roeship is probably going to be disappointed it wasn't wider," Yukari laughed.

Arisa and the History Club members looked at her.

"You'll see," was all Yukari would say, smiling knowingly.

As luck would have it, the battle reached a lull as the Kuromorimine line prepared to cross the ridge. One of the spotter planes was in position to watch the Cromwells, and so the screen obligingly cut away from the block view to show the four tanks at speed down a paved road leading to the culvert.

In the second tank, clearly identifiable as the Comet with its larger turret, a figure with rose hair could be seen with both arms in the air, exhilarating in the speed.

"Are they crazy?" asked Arisa incredulously, realizing what was about to happen.

If anything, the lead Cromwell sped up moments before hitting the small dirt ridge that marked the edge of the culvert.

As one, the entire crowd in the stands gasped as the tank cleared the culvert with room to spare and sped off.

Moments later, it was joined by the Comet, which didn't clear the jump quite as well.

Seeing this, the driver of the third tank in line hesitated, slowing the tank to abort the maneuver, which led to the tank skidding over the ridge and landing heavily in the culvert, wrecking the tracks and triggering the white flag.

The fourth driver slowed hard enough to turn to follow a road parallel to the culvert, obviously looking for a more conventional crossing point.

"That's nuts!" said Arisa.

"Kinda like an inverse of Hannibal crossing the Alps," said Caesar, appreciatively.

"Attack from a direction which should be impossible," added Saemonza, nodding her head. "Excellent tactics."

"Like the Ardennes," Erwin continued.

"I'm not trying that," said Oryou, the driver momentarily losing her historical façade. "And I wouldn't want to ride with Pepperoni once she sees that."

Seeing the wisdom in this, the other three History Club members nodded in agreement.

"Historically, a unit of three Cromwells jumped a 7m canal in Holland to escape a German ambush," Yukari explained.

"Looks like Kuromorimine's going over the top," Kay pointed, drawing everyone's attention to the screen.

Obligingly, the camera shifted to cover the tanks crossing the ridge. A couple of Matildas closed in to try to get belly shots as the tanks briefly exposed themselves. An unlucky JagdPanzer took a fatal hit from a Matilda.

On the flank, the second Churchill knocked out one of the two Panthers at close range. In the turret, the pony-tailed Rukuriri could be seen valiantly ordering her tank into battle. The heavy British tank turned to engage the other enemy. Shots from the two tanks scored each other's hulls as the two gunners tried to find a weak spot. Finally, a shot from the JagdPanther trailing behind its turreted cousins scored a lethal hit on the Churchill.

With the JagdPanzers over the ridge to keep the Matildas occupied, the Kuromorimine heavy tank shield started their advance up the slope.

Suddenly, the screen cut to the aerial shot of a lone Panther, the Kuromorimine wedge rearguard, turret pointed rearward. Moments later, the camera caught the first moments of panic from the tanks' commander, who grabbed the radio as a shot from behind the tank narrowly whizzed past.

Seemingly from nowhere, the lead Cromwell entered the picture, as the startled Panther crew tried to bring their weapon to bear on the unexpected foe.

They never had a chance. The second shot from the Cromwell slammed into the Panther's vulnerable rear armor, knocking the tank out.

"Even with the problems, St. Gloriana might be able to pull this off," said Kay appreciatively, leaning forward out of her stool in excitement.

"I hate to say it, but go Brits! Kill that German tank!" cheered Erwin.

The camera panned out to show the Cromwell and the Comet charging towards Tiger 217, Miho's flag tank, which had rapidly started to maneuver to respond to the new threat. The veteran Kuromorimine crew turned evasively to meet the new threat head on. They could just make out Miho in the turret, seemingly calm as her tank tried to get a shot at the Cromwell.

The Cromwell reached a firing position first, and slammed a round into 217's side armor, which caused Miho to shake but didn't knock the tank out. 217 returned fire, missing the Cromwell as it sped off to try to get behind 217.

The Comet fired next, hitting the other side of 217's turret. Due to the distance and angle, the shot likewise bounced off. The Comet jerked back into motion, charging forward towards the enemy flag tank to deliver the killing blow.

217 jerked forward to escape the trap, causing a shot from the Cromwell to just miss its rear armor.

From out of the picture, another shot came in, striking the Cromwell. The back of the tank smoked and the white flag popped out. 212 lumbered into view, Maho coming to defend her sister.

"Come on Hana, make it count!" Yukari yelled in the stands.

The Comet still had a chance. The nimble tank sped toward 217's flank opposite the second Tiger, and went into a perfect skid, shredding the tracks on the hard dirt but putting the barrel of its 77mm cannon practically against 217's rear armor.

Seemingly everyone in the stands held their breath, waiting for the shot that would see someone finally defeat Kuromorimine.

The shot never came.

From the speakers came the fateful words: "St. Gloriana Flag Tank Eliminated. Kuromorimine wins!"

The image on the screen kept showing the view of the Comet and Tigers from the circling airplane. It took more than a minute before someone in the media trailer managed to switch the screen to the camera view from another observation plane. It showed Darjeeling's knocked out Churchill, flanked by a knocked out JagdPanther and JagdPanzer, facing the Elefant and two Konigstigers.

Arisa, like many others, started breathing again.

"Dammit!" said Yukari and Kay in unison, as both sat down heavily.

* * *

"Have you heard this saying: 'The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart'?" said Darjeeling to the group clustered at the Saunders / Anzio camp while they waited for the official match closing.

"Sorry about messing up," Rosehip said sheepishly. The rosette was unusually subdued.

"It was an audacious plan, and it brought us closer to victory than anyone has come in the past decade, Ōarai excepted," Darjeeling replied, trying to cheer her up. "I can't fault you or your crews. We had little time to train with properly tuned Cromwells."

"Had it been anyone other than the Nishizumis themselves, or perhaps Shimada, that would have worked. Those three are both incredible at commanding their individual tanks as well as commanding whole teams. You saw how fast Miho reacted to the threat," Assam nodded her head in agreement.

"Man, what a ride," said Tsuchiya, as she stretched out on the ground.

"I'll never forget the look on the Panther commander's face when she spotted us," added Hoshino, with a wistful sigh.

"I think the Tankathalon specialty stores sell novelty horns," added Suzuki. "While we were waiting for recovery, we discussed it amongst ourselves. If we're going to jump the tank again, we need one that plays something awesome."

Satoko looked at Darjeeling. "While we're honored to be part of your team, we'll likely never be proper St. Gloriana ladies."

"You four are fine just the way you are," said Darjeeling. She checked her phone, and brightened up a bit at what she saw. "On that subject, this won't be official yet, but the alumni have agreed to my demands."

She turned to Hana and Yuzu, and straightened up as much as possible. "Congratulations, Hana and Yuzu, or should I say, Sencha and Gyokuro?"

The two looked at their commander in puzzlement.

The silence was broken by Kay, who had started a slow clap. "Wow, you got your alumni to give them nomme-de-guerres based on Japanese green teas. That must have taken some persuasion."

As comprehension slowly dawned, the entire group joined in the enthusiastic congratulations for the pair on their promotion to the elite of St. Gloriana.

"They certainly deserve it, though the official ceremony will have wait until we are back at St. Gloriana. I sent an email repeating my request right after I saw the footage for myself. I understand that many of our alumni were watching live. I also am given to understand that a certain Ikebana exhibit also helped seal the deal. As representatives of the one club that most retains a Japanese character, exceptions to the usual names were granted, reluctantly."

"Speaking of email, Assam," said Naomi, who had returned just after the match, as she pushed a button on her phone. "Check this out."

Assam's phone indicated a new message had arrived. The blonde analyst looked at the message, smiled, and pulled out her laptop. "Very nice. Can I see your phone for a second?"

Puzzled, Naomi handed it over. A moment later, Assam's phone chimed again.

"I wanted the full message headers from the original message," said Assam, as she pulled her slim laptop from its bag and started it up. "Pravda's normally a riddle wrapped in an enigma, especially their Sensha-do scouting." She tapped around on her laptop a bit. "If I wanted, I could send an email to Pravda right now making it look like it came from one of their own, or even their Intel address."

Kay, Naomi, Arisa, and Yukari exchanged glances.

"We could feed them false intel," said Arisa, mischeviously grinning.

"Nah, that's too serious," said Kay, clapping her hand on Arisa's shoulder. "This is a unique opportunity. We should have as much fun as we can with it. Your opinions, Naomi, Oddball?"

Naomi smiled widely in agreement. "They'll probably personally debrief their people anyways. Let's go for fun." She looked at Yukari. "Right, Secret Agent Akiyama, Codename Oddball, Super Spy?"

Yukari pulled out a piece of paper from her bag and wrote out a message, then handed it to Assam, who smiled. "When do you want me to send it?"

"We'll want to get some pictures of the crowd, so we can see who checks their phone," Yukari replied.

"I think I can give you an opportunity during our speech at the closing ceremony," said Darjeeling.

"And, in return," said Kay, "we'll give you this." She reached into the Saunders truck and pulled out a round tin. "We'll throw in our pictures as well."

Pekoe's eyes went wide as she was handed the tin of popcorn with a sincere "Thanks!"

"It looks like Miho is about to give her speech," said Erwin. "Let's go."

* * *

In the other timeline, even after recovering her confidence at Ōarai, Nishizumi Miho had been lousy at making speeches. Here, the confident battlefield commander was a nervous wreck off the field, especially since it was her first official match as commander of Kumomorimine's Sensha-Do team.

Maho gently helped her sister up to the podium, and helped Miho pick up the index cards where she had written down what she wanted to say when she dropped them from her nervous hands.

"Th… thank you, ev… everyone," she stammered, "for co… coming out here today. It was… was an excellent match. We… we were glad to… to face St. Glori… ana. We… look forward… to seeing you… at the finals." She bowed awkwardly towards the St. Gloriana team.

The match spectators and the Kuromorimine team applauded politely. Most were puzzled to see the St. Gloriana commander and her guests applaud vigorously and sincerely, joined shortly thereafter by the rest of the St. Gloriana team. Darjeeling herself kept clapping and smiling as she walked up to the girls at the podium.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miho," Darjeeling said, and stuck out her hand.

Miho extended hers, and the two shook. "A pl… pleasure."

Maho, staring at the blonde with her usual emotionless expression, helped her sister back to her teammates.

"We at St. Gloriana want to congratulate Kuromorimine on their well fought out victory. It was a close but fair loss, and hopefully we'll have an equally exciting match next time we face. We also want to thank you for your hospitality in hosting this match," said Darjeeling.

She bowed politely to the Kuromorimine team.

"We'd also like to congratulate Nishizumi Miho for her first win as commander of Kuromorimine's team."

Another round of vigorous applause and cheers from the St. Gloriana contingent and their guests, joined shortly thereafter by the crowds in the stands.

"I've been asked by my friend Kay, commander of the team at Saunders, to let her say a few words," said Darjeeling, beckoning to the other blonde.

Kay, waving at the crowd, walked up to the podium, Yukari, Naomi, and Arisa in tow. Yukari stopped beside Kay, and Naomi and Arisa flanked the pair, phones hidden and ready to take pictures.

"Hi everyone!" Kay called in English as she continued to wave at the crowd, before switching to her native tongue. "I'm Kay, commander of Saunders Tankery Team, and as many of you know, we have a match in two days against Pravda. We look forward to seeing many of you there to watch us. I want to also congratulate Miho," she paused for the obligatory round of applause, "and Kuromorimine for their win and for hosting, and thank St. Gloriana for inviting us as guests, and give a shout out to our fellow guests from Anzio!"

There was the start of yet another round of applause, but Kay held up her hands, imitating Anchovy, to silence the crowd. In the silence, a careful listener could hear the sounds of phones announcing the arrival of new emails. Kay waited, and one by one a few girls in the stands slowly stood up with puzzled looks on their faces.

Kay grinned. "Oddball, here, and I would also like a round of applause for our visitors from Pravda! Smile everyone!"

Grinning, Naomi and Arisa began to photograph the girls, as the Anzio and St. Gloriana side erupted into another round of applause and cheers. The Kuromorimine team, meanwhile, was completely dead silent.

"See you all up in Hokkaido!" called Yukari, as the Saunders team beat a hasty retreat.

"Worth it?" asked Kay, as she and Yukari reached the camp.

"Worth it!" said Yukari. "Let's see what Nonna makes of that."

* * *

Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone that read and reviewed. This is the first battle where our perspective is from the spectators, and I tried to convey as much as I could the feeling of what we see the match spectators point of view.

Next: Always Advancing Part XVIII: Winter is Coming


	28. Winter is Coming

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXVIII: Winter is Coming

by Civilis

* * *

"Nozomi, please have the head of intel in the meeting room as soon as possible," said Nonna, calmly, as she looked over the others gathered in the Pravda Sensha-Do team's meeting room to watch the St. Gloriana – Kuromorimine match.

The speed at which the former Discipline Committee member obeyed order suggested that the appropriately menacing subtext had been conveyed.

"[Did Saunders just do what I think they did?]" asked Klara in her native tongue.

"Japanese, Klara," said Nonna. "We have guests. And leave the massive failure by our intelligence team until their control officer is here."

"Ok, then," said the Russian in fluent Japanese. "The Kuromorimine plan was almost exactly what Katyusha predicted," she nodded in the direction of the smaller girl, perched on a cushion.

"The Nishizumis stick to their school's offensive traditions, but after last year, they're not taking chances," said Katyusha. "That rear Panther didn't help them, though."

"It gave them just enough warning. We also predicted the general outlines of the St. Gloriana plan, with the double envelopment with Crusaders and Cromwells," Klara continued. "The Comet was… unexpected, but not out of the realm of possibility. The way they used their new tanks, however…"

"It almost worked. If they had had enough time to fully train the crews in the new tanks…" Nonna trailed off, the implication obvious.

"A problem we ourselves are wrestling with," Klara replied, looking toward the two other former Discipline Committee members in the back of the room and the half-asleep girl they were half-heartedly guarding as she lazed back with her feet up on the chair in front of her.

Mako opened her eyes and picked up a paper from the seat next to her. "According to this, the tank that crashed was crewed by veterans, as was the one that broke off. The rosette's crew is half new, and your report says that the other one is some mechanics that were pressed into service."

"At this point I can't trust our intelligence," Nonna said. She looked at Sodoko and Gomoyo. "I trust our Discipline Committee volunteers, at least, can obey orders?"

As if on cue, Pazomi led Pravda's intelligence chief into the office. The girl was shaking and sweating profusely. "Commander! I… I don't know what happened!"

"Saunders happened," Nonna glared at the girl. "We have your people deployed at the match to watch Kuromorimine and St. Gloriana. Next thing I know Kay is blowing your team's cover on TV."

"There was an email…" the girl stammered. "I'll show you."

She handed her phone to her commander.

Nonna looked at the screen, then handed it to Klara.

"So, you ordered your team to stand up?" asked Nonna.

"No! I didn't send that!" the girl pleaded.

"Who did?" asked Klara.

"I don't know! One of them forwarded it to me, that's how I have it."

Klara fiddled with the phone, then stopped. "Did you send this earlier message, the one asking for info on who was in the Saunders group?"

"Yes, I sent that one," the girl said.

"Why did you send it? The most important mission I gave you was gathering info on Kuromorimine," said Nonna.

"Because there were seven girls there on the Ōarai list," she replied.

Hearing the name, everyone in the room but Katyusha and Mako leaned forward to pay attention.

"What list?" said Nonna, calmly leaning forward as she narrowed her eyes.

"The list of girls who were at Ōarai last…" she saw the trap in front of her, too late to stop.

"Which was supposed to be Top Secret," said Nonna. "Which you swore not to talk about to anyone."

The girl slumped, dejected, knowing what was coming next.

"I think it safest if you spend a couple of days pondering your offense. Nozomi, take our friend to the Discipline Committee, give them strict instructions that our intelligence chief gets assigned to Potato Duty. Any questions or anyone tries to object, call me immediately." Nonna was sure the Discipline Committee member would follow her instructions precisely, and was sure that her status now as working for Nonna gave her the power to override any Discipline Committee objections.

Pazomi led the sobbing girl away.

"What is Ōarai? Is it some kind of code word?" asked Katyusha.

"Ōarai is the school carrier the education ministry closed down last year," said Nonna. "The students needed to transfer to other schools. The name keeps popping up."

"I don't remember them having a Sensha-Do team," said the small girl.

"The records say their team shut down twenty years ago," said Klara. "However…"

The two Discipline Committee girls exchanged glances. Mako merely closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep.

"Why is it so important?" asked Katyusha. "You can tell me."

"You who keep breaking regulations?" asked Nonna, feigning seriousness.

"Katyusha can keep secrets. Why else do you trust me to help plan?" said Katyusha.

"[Go on and tell her,]" said Klara, switching back to her native tongue. "[If you don't she'll keep bugging you until… oh, that's a clever plan.]"

"[Unfortunately, we need to tell her so she'll understand the new team roster for the match against Saunders.]" Nonna replied.

Nonna turned to the smaller girl. "Katyusha, how is Moyoko working for you as driver for the KV-2?" she said, gesturing to Gomoyo.

"She's working fine, she obeys Katyusha's orders and has learned quickly. Katyusha was a bit annoyed at being assigned a commissar, but Katyusha can work with Gomoyo."

Gomoyo seemed pleased with the assessment, enough to overlook the use of her nickname.

"Would it surprise you to know that Moyoko has been in Sensha-Do for less than two weeks?" Nonna asked. "She and her Discipline Committee comrades and our delinquent over there are all transfer students… from Ōarai."

Katyusha looked at the three other girls and blinked in confusion.

"Akiyama Yukari, Arisa's protégé and the one likely responsible for the recent humiliation of our intelligence department is also from Ōarai. You remember her, right?" said Nonna.

"The girl you sent around pictures of? The spy?" Katyusha asked.

"The one you missed even though she was right in front of you," said Nonna. "I believe we may have been too lenient with you on that case."

Katyusha looked like she was ready to cry.

"[Good one!]" said Klara.

"The two new members of Rosehip's crew that almost took out the Kuromorimine flag earlier today? The St. Gloriana students that were at the Saunders - Anzio match? Also Ōarai," Mako replied without sitting up or opening her eyes. "As are, I believe, a couple of other girls that were there. Perhaps a little leniency could improve my memory?"

Nonna looked at the girl. "We have our final practice before Saunders tomorrow, and the match after that. Then two weeks before the finals, assuming we win. We need everyone to be as trained as possible."

"If we win, I'm sure you could let me off from practice that first week," said Mako, seemingly indifferent.

"Perhaps we could let you sleep in until 0800 that first week?" Nonna offered.

"Noon," Mako countered. "And the four colorful Anzio students that were sitting with Saunders are also from Ōarai, but your intelligence team already had that. Those are the seven you knew about."

"[Are you really negotiating with her?]" Klara asked her commander.

"[You've seen how she responds to threats,]" Nonna replied. "[None of the punishments we have she fears.]"

"0900?" Nonna offered the lazy girl.

"In writing," said Mako. "And I'll throw in another piece of information if you give me that Saturday off entirely."

"Fine," sighed Nonna in surrender, as she wrote out and signed the agreement.

Mako slowly got up and walked over to the desk, where she read the agreement, then signed it herself. "The four unknown St. Gloriana girls we saw with Darjeeling are the mechanics, all originally from Ōarai's auto club. I would guess they're the ones responsible for getting the Cromwells fixed, and they were the ones in the Cromwell that jumped the ditch with Rosehip," she informed Nonna.

"And the other piece of information?" Klara asked.

"You guys are smart," said Mako, cagily. "Did you notice something odd about the closing ceremony?"

"For a veteran commander, Miho isn't a good speaker," observed Katyusha.

"As I recall, she personally knocked out your tank last year," Nonna agreed. "But Mako's right. It was odd, that after Miho's speech, when they panned over the crowd…"

"I would have sworn that the Saunders group was the group cheering the most," added Klara. "That included the other guests, the odd girls from Anzio."

"Didn't you say they were all from Ōarai?" asked Katyusha.

Klara and Nonna looked at Katyusha as Mako slowly smiled.

"Miho was at Kuromorimine last year," said Nonna. "We know that much."

Mako grinned. "Had things worked out a little differently, Miho would have been at Ōarai this year. Of course, that required Miho abandoning her tank to rescue the crew of the tank which slipped into the river, which would have allowed Katyusha to knock out her Tiger."

"You said you didn't remember Ōarai," said Nonna, angrily.

"You guys throw me in a tank and bump me around and it must have knocked something loose," Mako said back, unafraid. "I went along with your little scheme against Yukari, and it turns out she told us the truth, even if I didn't know it at the time. I've been cooperative, because I struck a deal with you."

She pointed at the two Discipline Committee members. "These three also have some of their memories back, and they've said nothing. Right, Sodoko?"

"We don't remember much," admitted Sodoko. "It's very confusing. But we do remember a little."

"[Why don't we just meet with Saunders when they arrive tomorrow and try to make a deal?]" said Klara.

"[No. The team won't let me back down until we've taught them a lesson after what happened today. We'll apologize to Yukari, specifically, after the match. You can get your autograph then,]" Nonna replied.

"[Was it that obvious?]" asked Klara.

"[You can have her. I'll keep Katyusha,]" Nonna replied.

"[I just want the autograph. I swear she has a fan club here already after what happened at Anzio!]"

"[Also, keep on your toes. The Saunders dirty tricks aren't going to stop,]" Nonna warned her assistant.

She then pulled an envelope from the desk and turned to Katyusha. "This is our final order of battle. There are a couple of complications you'll have to work around when planning. It is also Top Secret. The people in this room and Nozomi are allowed to see it, nobody else."

Nonna turned to Gomoyo. "Since you are in Katyusha's crew, stay with her and keep an eye on the list. I mean it when I say nobody else sees it. Although you've volunteered to help us, you still are officially a member of the Discipline Committee and have the authority both from them and from us, so use that power if necessary."

Katyusha walked up to the desk to pick up the envelope.

Before handing it over, Nonna took the time to stare at the pair. "If this leaks, I'll hold you both responsible. Return the list to me with your plan."

The pair saluted their commander, then walked out.

"Let me guess," said Mako once the doors had closed, "the biggest complication is the role Sodoko and I are playing in this?"

Klara started to glare at the girl, but was stopped by Nonna's voice.

"Yes, the little detail about your crew can wait until the match itself," she said in a tone which conveyed weary resignation, "but Katyusha doesn't need that to plan. The general plan she came up with last week seems even more valid after today. Katyusha won't object to your role, even without all the details. Now, you two also have practice to get to."

"Yeah, yeah," said Mako. "I'll go practice. Come on, Sodoko." The girl slowly got up and started packing her things.

"Reizei, before you go, a question," said Nonna.

Mako turned to look at her. "Now what?"

"Why did you agree to do Sensha-Do?" asked Nonna, staring at her. "You keep ignoring the Discipline Committee's rules. We have less power over you than they do. We can't force you to be here."

"I think it gets Grandma off my case about being lazy, and I can blame being late to class on 'the team needed me for something'," Mako replied. "Besides, Yukari was right, it is kind of fun, and you and Klara haven't been too hard to deal with. Also, since I joined before Sodoko, it makes me her senior on the team. Right, Sodoko?"

"I am not calling you Mako-sempai," said Sodoko angrily. "I'm a year ahead of you."

"[I don't like relying so much on unknown elements,]" said Klara, gesturing to Mako as she finished packing her bags. "[That one, especially.]"

"[She's smart, and a quick learner. It would be a danger to let her go even if she knew nothing. Saunders probably would offer a lot for her. Besides, she's honest and will keep her mouth shut. Same with our Discipline Committee volunteers. As much as I like Katyusha, and as much as she has a surprising tactical genius, she can't keep her mouth shut,]" Nonna replied, turning to her assistant commander. "[Though I will have to make sure we keep her grandmother happy.]"

"[I've certainly learned a lot here that I never would have learned at home,]" said Klara. "[Tactics and strategy are one thing I can get anywhere. The politics of running a team? I had no idea it could get this confusing. The professional way you're handling this is a real inspiration.]"

"[I only wish I was as sure inside as it seems to you,]" Nonna replied, smiling genuinely for the first time. "[And, of course, some things are entirely beyond my control. Let's go to practice. The avalanche has not yet begun, so we snowflakes still have choices we can make.]"

* * *

"Here we are, sunny Hokkaido," said Kay, as she watched the last of the massive Saunders convoy roll off the ferry.

"Cold and miserable Hokkaido, you mean," said Arisa. "And we still have the drive to Sapporo."

"Could be worse," said Yukari. "Last time I was in Hokkaido, it was snowing."

"Mud's not much better," the pigtailed intelligence chief replied. "And while it's not freezing, it's still cold. We should have taken the C-5 all the way up, rather than meet the convoy on the way and send the plane on to Saunders."

"At least we'll be able to ride back down on the School Carrier, hopefully to Tokyo for the finals," said Naomi as she waved to a face in the crowd.

"Is that your Pravda spy friend?" asked Kay.

"Yep. I leak her some trivial info, she tells me things. It seems that Nonna sacked her Intelligence chief before they could figure out how we busted their ring."

"Anything interesting?" asked Arisa.

"Aside from the fact that their intelligence section is in complete disarray? Apparently, Nonna has gone paranoid and brought in a couple of Commissars, as they call their Discipline Committee members, to enforce discipline. They're resorting to conscripting delinquents to fill their ranks. They've been having secret meetings and training sessions," Naomi recounted what she had been told.

"Sounds like someone is feeding you a bunch of bull," said Arisa, as she finished her lunch. She checked her watch and groaned. "We'd have been there by now if the girls from Anzio didn't have their circus at every stop."

"We have our fans to feed!" said Kay, gesturing to the crowd that had gathered, many of them clamoring for pictures of the tanks chained down to their trucks.

It was certainly an unusual experience. While normally moving the tanks long distance on land was always an adventure, and any stop could usually bring out at least a couple of fans that had been passing by for pictures, this trip had seen a change, in that fans and even curious locals were waiting in surprising numbers at every stop.

Anzio had jumped at the opportunity this provided. The more nimble Anzio food trucks zipped ahead to set up in advance of the main convoy to feed the waiting fans, accompanied by a Saunders advanced scout jeep to coordinate parking for the main convoy.

"I have no idea how that girl handles this," said Momo, sitting down heavily next to the Saunders commanders and gesturing to Anchovy waiting tables nearby. "I can't keep up with her."

Like most of the Anzio girls waiting tables, both wore their tank crew uniforms instead of their regular school uniforms. Every so often, one of the fans would ask for a picture of the girls in front of one of the tanks, even though both were from different schools, and the Anzio girls were happy to oblige potential customers.

Shortly thereafter, Saori, wearing the regular Anzio uniform with an apron, joined the group, passing a can of tea to Momo, who downed it quickly.

"We're getting ready to pack up, and they said they had enough food for the people left," Saori pointed to the food truck. "Do any of you want anything?"

"How do you guys keep up with the logistics on this?" asked Kay, curious. "That's a lot of food you're serving."

"We have a couple of girls with a cargo truck ahead of the food trucks. I radio ahead with what we're getting short on and they pick it up and meet us at the next stop," Saori explained.

"It didn't look like you were having a lot of fun cooking back at Anzio, Saori," Yukari observed. "Is it becoming more fun?"

"Yeah, it is. Just like Sensha-Do, in fact. At the Fashion club, they all leaned on me to cook. Here, Pepperoni and the others pull their own weight. Anchovy herself waits tables. And Momo organized everything and handled the publicity. We're a well-run team. Though Saunders is impressive as well, moving all these vehicles. What is that big thing?"

She pointed to the last truck in the Saunders line, with a massive, tarp-covered object, significantly larger than the Shermans on the other transporters. From one end, a pole-like extension had been wrapped in additional tarp. Unlike the other tanks, a couple of Saunders tankers had been stationed to keep curious onlookers from getting too close.

"That's our surprise for Pravda," said Kay.

Momo looked at her. "Actually, that's our secret weapon. We did help you build it, after all."

"You'll see it in action at Pravda," said Arisa. "For now, let's get this show on the road."

* * *

Next: XXIX: The Circus Comes to Town

Author's Note: I assumed that the GuP series starts at the beginning of the Japanese school year, with Miho's first day at Oarai, but that doesn't scale with the Oarai / Pravda match being a Stalingrad/Bastogne homage except for the rule of humor. Likewise, for all the humor, Pravda isn't the Soviet Union, and all the dictatorial nature is there for rule of humor, so Mako can obviously ignore it like she ignores her tardiness at Oarai.


	29. The Circus Comes to Town

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXIX: The Circus Comes to Town

by Civilis

* * *

"Nonna, nice to finally meet you," said Kay warmly, exchanging greetings with her counterpart in advance of the official opening ceremony.

The Saunders command team had joined the Anzio Food Truck brigade and their own Concessions Unit in heading to the viewing area for the match well in advance of the official start time.

"Nice to meet you," replied Nonna, though her tone lacked any warmth.

"We thank you in advance for your hospitality for us and our guests," said Kay, continuing on as if with a friend.

"Was it necessary to bring this… circus?" Nonna gestured to the massive pile of concessions trucks in the visitor parking area, where locals were already lining up.

"I know this isn't your normal Sensha-Do field, and there are a lot of spectators, so we figured you could use the help. Thanks for finding a spot for Anzio's extra truck."

Kay gestured to a bright red Anzio food truck, parked near the main home concession area. It was not one that had been deployed at any of the convoy stops. In fact, it had spent the trip up to Hokkaido on one of the tank transporters under a tarp with a Sherman and some packing material set up by Anzio's prop department to disguise the shape. It had been unloaded and parked with the other food trucks in the dead of night, once the team weather expert had confirmed that the wind direction would be acceptable, and the visitor concession area would be upwind of the main concession area. Unlike the other food trucks, there was no sign indicating what it was selling, just the roman characters SPQR in big gold letters.

"There certainly are a lot of spectators," Nonna admitted.

The stands were full, including those added by a local event company that had just finished adding some extra seating less than an hour before. Many were tank fans, certainly more than had been at the St. Gloriana match earlier in the week. The home section was filled with Pravda students. The arrival of the Saunders school carrier that morning had meant that Saunders students could fill the visitor section. A nearby rise was covered in blue, as it had been turned into a camp by St. Gloriana's observers, who had flown in that morning by flying boat.

On the ground, the Sensha-do Federation camera crew which officially covered the match with the help of the aerial observer planes had been joined by a national sports network camera crew and crews from a couple of the local Sapporo TV stations.

"Was it necessary to cause all this?" Klara asked, from next to her commander. "Sorry, my Japanese is not good," she lied. "[Her shoelace is untied, and her breath smells funny.]"

"She says that Saunders should have spent more time practicing and less time with food," Nonna 'translated'.

"Your Japanese is fine, Klara," Kay replied. "And Yukari wanted me to thank you both for your hospitality when she visited Pravda."

"[Kay is up to something. And where is that girl? Wherever she is, it must be to cause trouble,]" Klara said.

"[We're here, there's no time for her to do anything else, or for us to worry about it. We know where the big American prototype is, the University team has it, so they're messing with us.]" Nonna turned back to Kay, and continued, "She wants to know where Yukari is. With all those videos around, she is becoming popular, but she has a bad reputation."

"Russian must be a compact language," said Kay. "Yukari is over by our barber truck, keeping an eye on her father."

"[This must be some inside joke. Why do they have a barber truck?]" Klara asked, puzzled.

"[Actually, that's real,]" Nonna said. "[I didn't believe it either.]"

It was true. Since finding out about the barber truck, Akiyama Jungouro, professional barber and hairstylist, had insisted that if Saunders was going to do it, they should do it right. The barber truck now had a 'sponsored by Akiyama Barbers' sign, and both of the Akiyamas now insisted on helping run the truck to benefit the team that had taken in their daughter.

Yukari was on her way to join the commanders before the ceremony when she caught sight of a familiar face in the stands among the tank fans and curious locals, and stopped.

"You're Mako's grandmother," she said to the woman. "How is she doing?"

"Are you a friend of hers? If so, you're at the wrong school," said Reizei Hisako.

"A lot of us ended up going to different schools. We're still friends," said Yukari. "We know how much your granddaughter cares for you."

"What's she doing riding around in a tank?" Hisako griped. "Trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Nonna and the rest are good people. They'll look after her," said Yukari, understanding how concerned she was about her only family.

"It must be important to her if she's willing to get up early to practice," the older woman said, "at least that's something."

"It looks like they're about to start, so take care!" said Yukari.

* * *

"So, did we learn anything from the handshake ceremony?" asked Kay, as the Saunders team drove out to their start point.

Yukari went over the list of commanders that had been at the ceremony. "Katyusha is commanding something, but she's always a better tactician than field commander. Still, if Nonna can keep her focused, she could be a danger," said Yukari. "Sodoko is also commanding something. She had a Char at Ōarai, but wasn't one of the heavy hitters. She's small, and on the Char she was commander, radio operator, and both gunner and loader for the 47mm cannon, so she's a good fit for one of the small turreted T-34/76s. She probably has her two fellow Discipline Committee members with her."

"And your other friend?" asked Arisa.

"Mako's here, since her grandmother is in the stands, and she's been training," related Yukari. "She was one of the best drivers at Ōarai, easily on par with Yuzu and Tsuchiya, although I can't think of anything Pravda would likely field that she could use to duplicate what those two did for St. Gloriana, especially considering the conditions."

They looked out of the back of the truck that was taking them to the start point. While the road was fine, and the spectator area had been cleaned up, the rest of the field was a muddy mess. The wooded areas were less muddy due to the tree cover, but the sky was overcast and visibility was poor.

"Arisa, go over again what we think the Pravda plan will be," said Kay.

"They will likely attempt to trap us at Ring One or Ring Two, possibly using their flag tank, likely a common T-34/76, codename Elephant, as bait," Arisa said, pointing to the spots marked on the map. "Most of their tanks are T-34/76s, codenamed Dogs, and T-34/85s, codenamed Ponies. They may have a KV-2, codenamed Bear. It's not as dangerous as it looks, powerful but slow, low rate of fire, and low accuracy. The real threat is the Lion, the IS-2, likely commanded by Nonna herself. All reports indicate that Nonna is an excellent gunner, on par with Naomi. Taming the Lion is the top priority from a tactical standpoint, given the likelihood of bait. Don't go chasing the flag until we're sure it's safe."

"Naomi, give us a review of our plan," continued Kay.

"We have two possible sites for the meeting engagement. Ring One, on the main road, at a village and Ring Two on the back road at a campground. Ring One is the most likely point of contact. Kay, your tank, Ringmaster, a M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo, along with our other Jumbo, Strongman, and the five regular Shermans, Clowns One through Five, will head up the main road to Ring One. One of our M4A1(76)W Shermans, Daredevil, along with four M4A3(75)W wide-track Shermans designated Acrobat One through Four will advance to Ring Two in parallel. There's a road, marked on the map as Point Sideshow, connecting the main and back roads. Our third M4A1(76)W, Juggler, and my Firefly, Tamer, will wait there as rearguard. The idea is to spot their bait. If, as we anticipate, the bait is at Ring One, Daredevil's team heading to Ring Two will cross over from there and engage from the flank. If the bait's at Ring Two, Strongman Team will head through Ring One to another connecting road at Point Egress, then head across and engage from the rear."

"And I'll be in the rear with my M4A1(76)W, Barker, our flag tank, safely away from stray gunfire," added Arisa. "Whose idea was the circus theme, anyway?"

"Your comment yesterday gave me the idea," said Kay, "and Nonna used the same term to describe our food trucks. I wonder if they've caught wind of our little stunt back at the staging area yet."

* * *

"What is that smell?" said one of the Pravda students in the stands, just after the official match start was announced, as the red and blue blocks moved across the screen.

"It looks like it's coming from that food truck," said another, holding her nose.

"Get an Anzio History Club Special Lunch!" the girl at the truck called.

"I thought Anzio was supposed to have good food," the first Pravda girl said, trying not to gag.

"Natsumi said that their other trucks smell much better. She's down there eating lunch at the visitor side," her friend said, getting up. "I think I'm going to join her."

At the stall, Caesar pouted, watching the Pravda students headed for the other concession area. "Come on, we're not that bad as cooks."

"Admit it, we are," said Oryou. "Who would actually eat one of our lunches?"

"Hello? I'd like to order a lunch!" said a familiar voice from outside the truck.

"See?" said Caesar turning to the truck's window. "We'd be happy to ma…" She stopped in mid sentence.

"In fact, seeing the lines down there, can I order a bunch for my friends?" said the girl at the window. "What is the Anzio History Club Special Lunch?"

"It's Sashimi and Spätzle over Yakisoba on top of a bed of croutons, parmesan cheese, egg, anchovies, and romaine lettuce," said Caesar. "Actually, the other trucks have much better food…"

"Oh that sounds good! Everyone was worried it would take forever to get lunch. I'll take six!" said Darjeeling, looking pleased.

* * *

"This is Acrobat One," came the voice over the radio in Ringmaster. "We are at the edge of Ring Two. Two Dogs just entered the ring, and there's a Pony behind them. Looks to be a blocking force."

"Hold position for now, Daredevil Team," came Arisa's reply. "Strongman Team is almost at Ring One."

From the top of Ringmaster tank, Kay and Yukari scanned the small village that was Ring One.

"Looks empty," said Kay. "Do you think they're at Ring Three?"

"I see a Dog," said Yukari.

"Where?" said Kay, looking over in Yukari's sector.

"The small house in the back, on the left side."

"I see it as well. And there's another, just popping up two houses to the right. Looks like it… it's a Pony." Kay grabbed the microphone. "Ringmaster here. Animal elements are arriving at the back of Ring One. So far, looks like one Dog, one Pony."

"Roger, Ringmaster. Strongman Team, advance cautiously, engage if you have a shot. We want Ring One, but be careful. Barker out."

The six Saunders tanks began advancing into the village, using the buildings for cover.

"Clown Three! A Pony on the right edge of the village! Engaging!"

The sound of tank fire reached Yukari's ears, first one or two shots, then more and more. Reports filtered in as the Saunders team began a fight with about five T-34s.

The radio crackled to life. "Barker here. Daredevil, clear Ring Two, leave someone to cover the road to Point Egress, then move to flank Animal elements at Ring One."

"Rodger, Barker. Daredevil Team advancing. Daredevil out."

Yukari watched the battle advance. Both sides moved cautiously, covering each other as they moved from position to position, trying to outflank each other.

Yukari watched as a T-34/85 peeking around one of the houses managed to get a knock-out blow on Clown 2. It started forward, only to be caught by Clown 1 as soon as it moved out of the protection of the house. A round from the Sherman's cannon slammed into the Pravda tank's side hull, sending forth a cloud of smoke and causing a white flag to pop out.

"Ringmaster here," said Kay on the radio. "Remember that they carry external fuel tanks. If they go up in flames, make sure it wasn't a fuel tank hit, as they can survive that."

In the middle of the village, Strongman advanced toward the Pravda forces. Two T-34/76s opened up, only to have their shells bounce harmlessly off of the Sherman Jumbo's reinforced front armor.

Stongman took aim and sent a shot from its 76mm cannon into one of the Pravda tanks, knocking it out.

"Clown One here. Watch yourself, Strongman, they might be trying to flank you," came a voice on the radio.

"Roger, Clown One." The tank fired at the other T-34, but the Pravda tank was already withdrawing.

"Clown Four here, looks like they're regrouping behind the village."

Yukari caught some movement in the trees. "Kay, check the woods behind the town," she pointed out to her commander.

Kay, after scanning over the area with her binoculars, grabbed the radio. "All units in Ring One, Lion and Bear are in the woods behind the village. Ringmaster out."

Arisa came on the radio. "Tamer, Juggler, advance to Ring One to support Clown Team."

"Tamer here, we're moving," came Naomi's voice.

"This is Acrobat Two. Acrobat One is out, and Acrobat Three threw a track. I'm leaving Three behind to watch our back. We're following Daredevil to Ring Two. Two Dogs, One Pony eliminated."

"Nice work, Acrob…" anything further Arisa had to say was lost in a sudden massive blast from the village.

"What was that?" came another voice.

"This is Clown One. I… the tank, I mean, is pinned under the rubble of one of the houses," came a frantic, scared voice. "If I had ducked any later…"

"It's the KV-2! They're shelling the village!" came another voice.

"Ringmaster here," came Kay's calm voice. "Lion is advancing, and has Animals with her. Watch for Bear, and don't bunch up. I am heading around the edge to catch the Lion. All tanks, button up."

Yukari dropped into the tank alongside Kay, as Ringmaster started forward.

Another massive blast could be heard through the tank's hull.

"Strongman here… looks like they're trying to get us with the Bear."

"Clown Four. We got a Dog, but the 85 behind it knocked us out."

"Clown One, the IS… the Lion is in the village. I don't think they know I'm operational. I think I have a…" there was a bang, "ok, that didn't work. Crap, they see…" there was a massive thump on the radio. "Clown One knocked out."

There was another massive explosion in the town, and moments later, the side of Ringmaster shook with a rain of debris.

"This is Strongman, I see the Lion. I'm about two streets up… and it sees me." There was a bang on the radio, and the sound of a shell casing clattering through the turret. "A 76 round from the front only made it angry. Backing off!"

"Roger, Strongman, I'm headed that way," said Kay.

"This is Daredevil. I see the Bear. Attempting to tame," came a welcome voice on the radio.

"Nice work, Daredevil," said Arisa. "Juggler, Tamer, status?"

"Approaching the town," said Naomi, "but the whole place is a cloud of smoke."

"This is Strongman, I'm pinned by rubble behind me, and the IS is lining… it missed! Firing…" another bang and clatter on the radio, "still haven't stopped it!"

"Roger, Strongman, almost there," said Kay.

Ringmaster's gunner fired, and yelled "scratch one Pony!" Yukari slammed another shell home in the breech.

"Strongman, knocked out!" came the call.

"Lion, targeted!" called Kay's gunner.

"Fire!" yelled Kay. Ringmaster rocked from the shot, and the shell ejected into the turret.

"Woo!" yelled the gunner. "Got em!"

Kay, grinning, grabbed the radio. "Ringmaster here, the Lion is…"

There was a massive impact from the rear of the tank, shutting down Ringmaster's systems. Yukari, in the process of picking up a shell, lost her balance and slammed into the front of the turret.

"Ringmaster knocked out!" yelled Kay into the radio. "What the hell was that? Is everyone okay?"

She turned to her crew, and caught sight of Yukari, slumped against the side of the turret. "Yukari, you okay? Yukari?"

* * *

"Yukari? Yukari?" came a familiar voice.

Yukari slowly opened her eyes, and found herself staring at the floor of the turret. "What… what happened?" she moaned, as she picked herself up.

Around her, the Sherman was empty and silent. Light poured in from the open hatches above.

"Yukari!" came the strangely familiar voice, again, from outside the tank.

Strangely, there was no noise from outside the tank. She climbed out the loaders hatch and looked around. The village was peaceful, as if the battle hadn't occurred.

"Yukari!" came the voice again, a girl's voice, cheerful and confident.

Yukari looked over the edge of the turret. Standing next to the Sherman was a familiar girl in an Ōarai tanker's uniform, smiling up at her.

"Miho!?"

* * *

Next: Part XXX: Dreams of Past Futures

Authors Notes: I hope you like cliffhangers... next chapter should be up in a couple of days.


	30. Dreams of Past Futures

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXX: Dreams of Past Futures

by Civilis

* * *

"Miho? Is that you?" asked Yukari, staring at the commander of Ōarai's Sensha-Do team.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Yukari," said Miho.

"What… what happened?" Yukari stammered, as she looked at the quiet, pristine village around the tank.

"You hit your head on the tank," the girl replied, calmly. "Fortunately, it's nothing serious. You'll wake up with a headache in an hour or so."

"But… the village? The battle?"

"Yukari… this isn't real. You're dreaming," the girl continued. "I'm not really your friend Miho."

"Who are you?" Yukari asked the girl wearing her friend's face.

Catching motion around the tank, Yukari turned and watched as the landscape shifted. The trees changed. The buildings went away. Wrecked tanks appeared. Yukari recognized them immediately as Polish 7TPs. Some were still smoking. The metal beneath her fingers changed from olive green to German Gray.

The effect was disconcerting. Even worse, the edges of her vision now had a distorted quality, as if the color had been washed out. As she turned her head, the effect followed her vision.

She turned back to the girl wearing Miho's face, to find a man standing where her friend had stood. He was tall and aristocratic, and wore the uniform of a senior German officer. She recognized his face from some of the history books.

"Heinz Guderian," she said, slowly.

"Also, not really," the man said.

"I could tell. You're wearing a heavy coat as if you were on the Eastern Front in Russia, and you won most of those awards well after the invasion of Poland," Yukari lectured the phantom.

The man laughed, a hearty, friendly laugh. "That's what I get for dealing with a tank expert with a keen eye."

It took a few moments for Yukari to put her finger on it. "You look like you stepped out of one of my books."

She looked around at the unreal world around her in awe. "That's why this has an unreal quality to it. It's based on my memories of books I've read and pictures I've seen. The reason things are black and white in places is that this scene is taken from an old picture. That's why there's no sound, no smell."

As if on cue, the wind picked up and the grass and smoke blew with it. She could smell the burning, the fire. As she looked for them, details popped into existence. She looked for craters, and there were craters. She listened for sounds of battle, and she could hear the sound of tank fire in the distance.

"This is Poland during the opening days of the war?" Yukari asked the man as she took in the view.

"This is Poland as your mind sees it," the man said. "You've studied your history."

"Who are you?" Yukari asked the phantom again, and watched as again the world changed around her once more.

The trees went away entirely, save for a couple of burnt and splintered stumps. The once small craters in the land became massive and multiplied in number. Trenches appeared, and barbed wire. Smoke filled the sky. Off in the distance, the occasional machinegun fire or artillery salvo could be heard faintly, but the area they were in was quiet. The black and white effect at the edge of her vision grew stronger. Her nostrils took in traces of an acrid, chemical smell.

The tank underneath her changed as well. Bigger, brown, and far more crude. She took in the details of the riveted metal.

"The Mark I tank. This must be the Somme," said Yukari. "I never thought I would get to ride in one of these!"

As she looked at the trenches, she could make out the occasional British soldier. Their appearance was odd, especially when she wasn't looking directly at them. If she looked at them directly, they had went through the basic actions of a soldier at rest, but if she looked at something else, they may as well have been mannequins.

She looked back for the man, to find he had changed again. He was now a fairly nondescript man in an older uniform she recognized as British.

"I apologize," said Yukari, "I don't remember seeing a picture of what Maj. Wilson looked like."

"This will do," the phantom said. "Yes, this is supposed to be the Somme, to the mind of a Japanese teenager."

"The first use of the tank," said Yukari. "The dawn of armored warfare."

"My birthplace," the man said.

"Again, who are you?" Yukari asked the phantom, and again, the world changed around her.

Dirt became a seemingly endless sheet of sand. The sky went from smoke to crystal blue. The tank under her shifted to tan, and appeared better constructed.

This time, Yukari was watching the man as the change happened. His face melted and reformed, and his uniform warped from British to a familiar German uniform. Yukari could have sworn, for a second, his hair was blonde and resembled a fox's ears before becoming very short and gray. Still, the hat on his head was very familiar.

"Erwin. Erwin Rommel, I mean. The Desert Fox," Yukari named the man.

"Who else?" said the phantom.

"This must be North Africa. I'm guessing El Almein, perhaps. It could be either battle."

In the distance, Yukari could suddenly make out a battle, though the actual details were hidden by sand blown into the air by explosions.

"It could be both," said the man. "Yukari, I… I need your help." His voice had a pleading quantity.

"Help? I… I mean, I guess I'd like to help, but can you tell me who you are?" Yukari watched the world around her change again in astonished wonder.

From the sand, grass grew, quickly obscuring the sand. The blowing sand, meanwhile, turned to smoke, which briefly blocked the distant battlefield, before clearing, to reveal a scene of devastation. Around them, tanks lay wrecked, multitudes of them. The burning smoke from their pyres left trails across the sky. She could hear the crackle of the fires, smell the burning fuel, and feel the distant heat.

She could make out the models, yellow Panzer IIIs and IVs and Panthers, green T-34s and KV-1s. As she watched, she noticed something. For the German tanks, the insignia fluctuated between the Balkenkreuz of the Wehrmacht and the emblem of Kuromorimine. For the Soviet tanks, the insignia fluctuated between the red star of the Red Army and the emblem of Pravda.

Her own tank, she noticed, was gray. Looking over the edge, it bore the insignia of Ōarai Girls Academy and the Anglerfish.

She looked back at the man. He was larger, with an olive uniform with a chest full of medals. On his head was an officer's hat adorned with a star.

"Marshal Zhukov. This must be Kursk, then," said Yukari. "The largest tank battle in history."

"Some would say this was my finest hour," he said, looking around, his expression fluctuating between sadness and pride.

"You're the tanks," gasped Yukari in awe, suddenly realizing who… or what… the phantom was.

The man smiled in appreciation, as if Yukari had passed a secret test. "I am the Tank. Think of me as a Kami. I am the spirit of all of these," he said, gesturing to the wreckage.

"You're a Kami? How can I, a schoolgirl, help you?" Yukari asked in puzzlement.

"I have made a mistake, and it is not in my power to fix it alone."

The world shifted again, to lightning and rain. The tank below her shifted again, to green. Ahead, in the dim light, three yellow tanks blundered out of the darkness, the lead one a Panzer III. From the darkness, a lightning bolt hit nearby, causing the earth to shift and the Panzer III to start to slide, revealing the Tiger behind it. Revealing Miho, in the Tiger's cupola. Suddenly, the world around them froze, as if time had stopped.

Yukari looked over at the man, the Kami, still standing next to the tank, now wearing Maho's appearance. "Does this mean you're responsible for this altered timeline? For me having memories of another world?" she asked, afraid of the answer.

"Yes. I altered history. I owe much to the Nishizumi family, a debt I can never repay. I made a nudge which created a new world, in order to spare Miho the damage that her failure would have caused. In doing so, I ruined her life, and my future."

"You're the reason things are different! What did you do? Why do I remember things that did…" Yukari tried to ask, but was cut off.

"For me to look into the future, that future must exist. There is another world, where the memories you have actually played out. Your memories of that world are a side effect I had not predicted," the phantom explained, saddened. "Perhaps it is your strong connection to me and to Miho that pulled your memories intact into this world along with my own." The phantom shook its head wearily. "More than that, I cannot explain to a mortal."

Yukari wanted to press on, but something else the Kami had said came back to her. "What's this about your future?"

"My future is in peril, although your unique circumstances offer me a glimmer of hope. For what it's worth, I'm sorry to involve you in this, but you're the only one that I can ask for help."

"How is your future in peril? Sensha-Do is a sport. You're a Kami of a weapon of war," asked Yukari.

"Time changes. Technology changes. While tanks are still viable on the battlefield, their role is increasingly limited by the march of technology. Meanwhile," he extended his hand, and the world changed again.

The wet dirt became dry, even sand. The ridge nearby shifted to a castle, which to Yukari resembled the one in Himeji that her parents had taken her to as a child. The sky went from dark and raining to blue and sunny. Cherry trees in bloom sprang up nearby. The tank beneath her went to a dark green color. Opposite her, another tank was parked, facing her. It looked to be another vintage World War I machine, painted gray, and decorated with large but unreadable insignia. Around them, crowds had gathered in old-fashioned clothes. Like the soldiers, they behaved like mannequins when Yukari wasn't looking directly at them. When she did, they cheered and waved.

The Kami next to the tank was now a Japanese woman, dressed in a modified World War I uniform. She looked kind of like Nishizumi Maho.

"The first Sensha-Do match," Yukari deduced.

"Nishizumi versus Shimada," the Kami informed her. It was smiling, though the gesture seemed forced. "Though a couple of generations removed from the ones you know."

"So Sensha-Do, as a sport, provides an outlet for people and tanks that doesn't involve war and death," Yukari guessed. "It lets people relive the glory days of tanks."

"Exactly," said the Kami.

"You're a Kami. I'm just a girl," Yukari pleaded with the phantom. "Can't you fix your mistake?"

The world changed again. The castle wall and the line of spectators became dense, thick, unmaintained walls of vegetation. Trees, small stone walls, and the occasional wrecked building appeared. Her tank went to an olive drab color. The other tank, to a Tiger in yellow and green mottled camouflage. In the distance, she could hear aircraft engines. For a brief moment, she swore she could smell the aroma of Darjeeling's tea.

She looked at the Kami again, who had become an unassuming man in British army fatigues, round glasses, and a beret.

"Hobart," Yukari recognized the man. "This must be Normandy."

"I wish I could," the Kami said. "I only had the power to make such a drastic change once. All I have left is enough to make minor changes."

In slow motion, the Tiger fired. As Yukari watched, transfixed, the shell headed straight for her. At the last minute, its trajectory altered, slightly, and the shell flew past her.

"Interfering with battles and wars is beyond my ability, for too much fate hangs in the balance. However, I can protect schoolgirls from stray rounds and injuries from being thrown around inside a tank," the Kami said, smiling weakly.

"Ok," said Yukari, patience wearing thin with the phantom's cryptic request. "You're telling me, in order to save tanks, I need to save Sensha-Do. What do I need to do to save Sensha-Do?"

The world changed again, to the courtyard of the building on the Fuji Training Grounds where the National Tournament in the other timeline had ended. Her tank shifted to the familiar brown of Ōarai's Anglerfish, and the other Tiger to Kuromorimine yellow.

"It's the National Tournament in the other timeline," said Yukari. "I was here."

"Not quite," said the Kami. "Look."

Yukari peered at the other tank. It took her a second to recognize what was wrong, that it was Miho herself in the Tiger's hatch in Kuromorimine's black uniform, not Maho.

"To save Sensha-Do, Kuromorimine needs to be defeated," the Kami explained, wearing the face of the smug head of the Ministry of Education's School Carriers Department, the one that had worked hard to close Ōarai. "They need to experience failure."

The Kami looked at Miho, then back at Yukari.

"Can you do that for me?" it asked.

Yukari took a deep breath, then looked at the Kami, wearing the face of the man that had inflicted so much grief on her friends, and said one word, "No."

Around them, the world shifted again. The ground went to snow. Around them, trees, devoid of leaves, appeared as the building vanished. Yukari's tank went to a deep olive green. The Tiger in front of them became burned out. For the first time, she could see bodies, frozen in the wreckage. Fortunately, the hazy nature of the dream obscured most of the details.

She felt cold, colder than she had ever felt in her life.

"No?" the Kami asked, masked anger in his voice. He was a more severe man, with a uniform full of medals, and a shiny bowl helmet with four stars on the front. At his side were a pair of pistols.

"Patton. The Ardennes. The Battle of the Bulge. Operation Wacht am Rhein. Started on Hana's birthday. And I said no, although perhaps 'Nuts!' would be more appropriate. Yes, I'm a tank otaku. Yes, I enjoy Sensha-Do. But I can't promise you I'll save it, or that I'll even try."

For a brief second, the bodies looked like schoolgirls rather than soldiers, and she could smell the burnt flesh.

"What I've learned from all this is the value of friendship. Miho was and is my friend, even if she doesn't remember it because of something you did," Yukari yelled at the Kami, unfazed by the threat. "I'm going into this to save Miho. If I save Sensha-Do in the process, I'll be happy, but that's not what I'm after. I'll save her, even if I have to destroy Sensha-Do in the process."

She stared at the Kami, anger in her eyes. "I'm like a tank, I always advance forward, and that is my objective."

The world around her changed yet again, back to the Ōarai gravel pit. The Kami shifted again, to Yukari's own form, clad in the gray Ōarai tanker outfit.

"Perhaps, then, that will be enough," the Kami told her. "Regardless of what happens today, fate will give you another chance. And, to repay what I have done to you, I will keep looking after headstrong girls for as long as I can."

Another voice entered the world, faintly. "Yukari… Yukari…"

"Our time grows short. I apologize for putting my burden on you without thinking of your feelings, and I thank you for listening to me. Good luck, Yukari…" came the Kami's fading voice, before it vanished.

Shortly thereafter, the rest of the world faded away.

* * *

"Yukari… hey, doc! She's waking up!"

Yukari blinked, and realized she was looking up at the blue sky.

An unfamiliar figure in paramedic gear shined a light in her eyes and looked her over. "You feeling okay?" the man said.

"Yeah," she said, groggily. "My head hurts."

"You had a nasty bump," the medic told her, "but it looks like you escaped a concussion. We'll give you something for the pain, but you should be back to normal by tomorrow."

Yukari sat up. Kay stood next to the medic, relief visible on her face. Behind them were the Saunders medical team and her parents. Looking around, she was on a stretcher. Behind her was the open back of the Sensha-Do Federation field ambulance covering the match, a modified British FV104 Samaritan. She had seen the vehicle, or one like it, off to the side at a number of matches, but she had been fortunate to never see it used until now. The armored vehicles' white paint and red cross insignia were covered in mud.

"You got a ride in another new tank," said Kay, attempting to smile.

Her parents came over, looking worried, and the medic explained to them that it was just a minor bump, but they had taken precautions because she had been out for a while.

Her dad thanked the medic profusely, and her mother came over to give her a hug after she got down off the stretcher.

After reassuring her parents that she would be fine, and accepting an icepack and some pain pills from the medic, Yukari walked over to Kay, who had waited nearby.

"I remember us hitting the IS-2… the Lion, and then a shock, and then I blacked out. What happened?" she asked.

"We got hit, directly, and got knocked out. I saw you were unconscious, and I radioed for help. They sent the federation ambulance tank in, and we got you out," Kay explained. "You really scared me for a while."

"Was it the Bear?" Yukari asked.

"No. Pravda had another trick up its sleeve, in fact, it had several." Kay replied.

"Kay, I had another dream. It's… it's very odd," Yukari said. "It may have been some sort of hallucination or something."

"More memories returning?" asked Kay.

"No… not exactly."

"At this point, given everything else, I'm willing to accept anything," said Kay.

"There was… someone who told me he needed my help," Yukari said, trying to put her dream into words. "He told me we… we need to defeat Kuromorimine."

Kay looked sad for a moment, before putting on a show of her usual smile. "Well, it's up to Pravda now."

"What happened?" she asked.

"We lost, Yukari. Pravda won."

* * *

Next: Always Advancing XXXI: Hunters and Prey

Author's Note: Another cliffhanger. I'm a little unsatisfied by having to come up with an explanation for what happened to Yukari, rather than leaving it as a mystery, but when I was putting the story together the imagery of Yukari's tank-crazy imagination was a big part of it. It also provided a convenient 'why does nobody ever actually get hurt' explanation, at the same time allowing me to suggest what kinds of precautions would make sense to deal with people getting hurt.


	31. Hunters and Prey

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXXI: Hunters and Prey

by Civilis

* * *

"Ringmaster knocked out!" came Kay's voice on the radio in Tamer, the Saunders Firefly tank, as in entered the smoke-filled village marked on the map as Ring One.

"That's not good," Naomi mumbled under her breath as she surveyed the damage around her.

Around the Firefly, the village looked like a real warzone. Houses had been blasted into rubble by the massive 152mm howitzer on the KV-2. Tanks, both American and Soviet, smoked around them, their crews huddling inside them while the fight raged.

A massive explosion in the distance, followed by a rain of branches and leaves, indicated that the KV-2 had shifted fire to shoot at the Saunders reinforcements coming from the flank.

Another voice came on the radio, this one unfamiliar to the Saunders crew. "This is the judges, we have reports of a casualty. We will be sending in a medevac team. Look for a white armored ambulance, marked with lights. All tanks should avoid firing on it and attempt to keep clear. We will notify you when the tank has cleared the field."

"Things just got real," Naomi griped to her crew, wondering which of the tanks around them had the casualty, and hoping it wasn't one of theirs. She popped the hatch to get some air and try and spot whatever had taken out Kay's tank before it got her.

"Status report," Arisa curtly requested.

Naomi looked over her shoulder to check the tank behind her. "Tamer and Juggler are good."

"Clown 5, I'm all that's left of Strongman. Engaging unknown enemy, likely a Pony, in the woods."

Naomi could just make out the surviving Sherman, hiding behind an intact house.

"Daredevil here, I have three Acrobats and am engagi…" there was the sound of a cannon, fired by the familiar rattle of a shell casing, "… scratch that, I have tamed the Bear."

"Acrobat 3 here, we've fixed the track. No sign of any Animals at Ring Two."

"How many Animals tamed?" asked Arisa.

"Daredevil here. Two Dog and one Pony at Ring Two, plus the Bear."

Naomi looked around. "I count three Ponies and three Dogs at Ring One, plus the Lion."

Arisa came on again. "Acrobat Three, advance cautiously to Ring Three. They may have left the Elephant in the back. Daredevil and the other Acrobats, advance to support Clown at Ring One. Get rid of that Pony."

Naomi could see the four tanks advancing on the far side of the village. It had been costly, but they had the upper hand.

"Daredevil, enemy Assault Gun in the woods flanking the village!" came a voice recognizable as Clown 5's commander.

A high velocity shell lanced out of the woods and into the lead Acrobat tank.

"Acrobat Two, out!" came the radio call.

"What is it?" called Arisa.

"It doesn't have a turret!" came the reply.

Naomi picked up the mic. "It sounds like it's an assault gun, perhaps a SU-100. Daredevil, flank it in the woods."

She looked to her driver. "Bring us up slowly. This one's mine."

"Can't," said the driver, "Ambulance."

The white armored ambulance, further marked by red and blue flashing lights, drove up the gap between the woods hiding the assault gun and the village.

"Clown, any more info on that assa…" came Arisa's voice, but she stopped in mid-word, only to swear, loudly with traces of surprise and fear. "Oh, crap!"

* * *

Arisa had been controlling the battle from the rear, keeping her flag tank, Barker, safe as she monitored the map and tallied the tanks. That it also meant she didn't need to do any real work was a bonus. That Kay was out was a problem, as was the appearance of an unknown element. Still, with the IS-2 out, Saunders should have the upper hand.

She'd learned from the practice match and the match against Anzio, so she had gotten into practice of keeping a close eye around the tank while she coordinated the battle. She was in the process of asking for an update on the mystery assault gun when she spotted it, a small green shape amongst the brown woods.

"Clown, any more info on that assa… Oh, crap! One Dog approaching my position!"

In theory, her M4A3(76)W was more than a match for a T-34/76. Still, after being humiliated by Yukari, she wasn't taking chances.

She yelled "Head to Ring One, now!" at her driver, then grabbed the radio. "Barker withdrawing forwards to Ring One! Assistance needed!"

"Roger, Barker," came Naomi's calm voice. "Juggler, Clown, head to Point Sideshow. I'll take our mystery assault gun once the ambulance is clear if Daredevil doesn't get her."

"Daredevil here. Two Ponies in the woods, one is also Elephant. Engaging."

* * *

In the village, Naomi climbed out of her tank. While she was the commander of the Firefly, she normally sat in the gunner's seat. The girl that sat in the commander's seat and kept an eye out, her spotter, was also trained as a backup gunner, and moved to take the gunner's seat.

From the top of the tank, Naomi could see the glow of the ambulance lights through the smoke. She climbed down, and headed into the village, keeping an eye on the woods. On the far side of the village, occasional shots could be heard, as Daredevil team attempted to take down the Pravda flag.

She had just about reached the lights when she ran into Kay's gunner, standing next to a federation judge that had ridden with the ambulance.

"What happened?" she asked.

"We had just taken out the IS-2 when we got hit from behind. Yukari hit something in the turret… she's unconscious. Medic says it doesn't look too serious, but she hasn't regained consciousness. They're going to drive her out as a precaution."

"No sharing info, you two," warned the judge. "Your tank was knocked out."

"I was just asking after my friend," Naomi replied.

"That's perfectly understandable, and given the circumstances I'll allow it. They should be out of there in a minute or two," said the judge, sympathetically. "Your commander is going back with the ambulance; she's just as worried as you are. I'll wait here in the tank with the crew. Once they're out of the village you should be good to engage."

"Be advised we may have a running battle up the highway to here," Naomi advised her.

"Thanks for the heads up. She's stable, so we can take an alternate route." The judge keyed her radio and explained the situation to the ambulance's crew.

As the ambulance closed the hatch and started up, Naomi caught a glimpse of Kay standing with the medic over Yukari's form on a stretcher. The tanker and judge headed to the knocked-out Ringmaster to wait out the battle.

Seeing Yukari's unconscious form in the ambulance caused Naomi to feel angry, much to her surprise. If you'd asked her about her friends, the taciturn gunner would have finally listed her crew and Kay, and with some prompting eventually Arisa. Yukari… Oddball was an anomaly. The word 'friend' would have occurred to Naomi to describe Yukari only reluctantly. Still, the girl knew her tanks, and her enthusiasm was infectious. It had been an interesting tournament, thanks to her and her odd 'other timeline' business. That someone had hurt the girl… that made this match very interesting for Naomi, in a very personal way. She could live with that.

Naomi sprinted back to the Firefly, jumped into the turret, and grabbed the radio. "Oddball's unconscious, the ambulance was for her. They think she'll be ok. I'm taking that bastard down, for Oddball."

"For Oddball!" came the cries on the radio.

Arisa's voice piped in. "Oddball? What about me!?"

* * *

As Barker made its strategic forward withdrawal up the highway, Arisa struggled not to panic. Her gunner fired occasionally into the woods at the elusive tank following them. Every so often, the predator would fire back, coming uncomfortably close to hitting the wildly weaving Sherman's rear armor.

It would often remain hidden in the trees, but she knew it was still there, still tracking her. Even worse, it was almost even closing the distance to the fleeing Sherman despite moving in and out of the forest.

"It's got to be that Ōarai driver," Arisa mumbled. "Ok, keep calm. We can do this. What would Oddball do?"

"Pass me some smoke markers!" she yelled down into the turret. Her loader handed her two markers. She tried setting one down on top of the turret, so she could concentrate but it rolled off into the mud, unlit. She managed to light the other, but almost burned her hand when she tried serving it like a volleyball, and it barely cleared the tank. The marker landed in the mud, where it began to smoke, but both tanks were already past the point where it would do any good.

"This is Juggler. I see you down the road. No sign of the Dog," came a welcome voice on the radio.

"It's in the woods to my left! The side the turret's pointing at!" Arisa screamed back.

Both tanks readied their turrets to engage the predator.

Barker raced between the pair of Shermans towards Ring One.

Behind the tank, Arisa watched as the T-34 leaped out of the woods onto the road and swung around the far side of the roadblock, passing on the opposite side of the two tanks. It stopped and fired into the rear of the sole surviving Clown tank, then, before either of the other two tanks could bring their turrets to bear, lurched forward and delivered a similar knockout blow to Juggler.

Arisa's gunner fired, but missed as the driver of the fleeing Sherman jerked the tank back and forth evasively. The Pravda tank quickly started up again and dove back into the cover of the woods.

"Jesus!" came the cry over the radio. "Juggler and Clown both out!"

"Where are you hiding?" said Naomi to herself, scanning the woods through the gunsight. She rubbed her hands in anticipation. Above her, the loader and the tank's nominal gunner scanned the woodline from the top hatches.

The radio sparked to life. "This is Daredevil. Acrobat 4 is out, but we've got the two Ponies nearly cornered."

"Naomi, woodline to our 11," came the call from the spotter. "Look for a big stump."

Naomi shifted the turret and peered through the sight. A low, dark green outline was just visible behind a large stump. "I think I see it. Yeah, there's the gun. She's not looking at us. With the woods, this will be a tough shot."

The loader dropped into the turret to prepare to reload.

As Naomi lined up her shot, the assault gun fired.

She calmly squeezed the trigger, and watched with some satisfaction as the shell arced into the SU-100's side.

"Got her!" Naomi's spotter called.

The radio crackled to life. "Saunders Flag Tank Eliminated. The match is over. Pravda wins!"

"Yeah," came the loader's moan, "but she got Arisa first."

Naomi climbed up on top of the tank. The smoking Barker could barely be made out in the distance, just approaching the village along the highway, white flag above the turret.

"Perhaps next time," said Naomi.

* * *

"Wow," said Yukari, as Kay finished relaying the events of the match in the packed Saunders concession area. "They brought a SU-100."

"Yeah, looking at the replay, they used the IS-2 as the bait this time," Kay replied.

"That's probably my fault," Yukari admitted sheepishly.

"It doesn't matter," Kay said, as she put her arm around Yukari's shoulder. "It was a close match. We knew the risks. You'll also be interested in the T-34 they brought, the one that hunted down Arisa."

"There you are," came a voice from the crowd. The students around the two cleared out, as two tall girls in Pravda uniforms approached the Saunders commander, a smaller member of the Pravda Discipline Committee following behind the two.

"Nonna! Klara! Pazomi!" called Yukari, waving to the three girls. "Join us for a soda?"

"Perhaps later," said Nonna. "We wanted to see if you were okay. Despite all that happened, I would hate it if a shot I fired actually hurt someone."

"Just a slight bump," Yukari admitted. "I take it you were commanding the SU-100, Nonna?"

"Yes, and I am also the gunner. Nozomi here is my loader. I'm glad it wasn't serious," Nonna said.

"Well, congratulations on a well fought battle. Looking at the replay, you guys had us out maneuvered the whole time. You deserve the win," said Kay, standing and extending her hand.

Nonna shook it. "Yes, it was a good fight."

"[Especially given all the dirty tricks outside the fight,]" said Klara, looking around.

"Klara says that your tanks almost had her at the very end," Nonna 'translated'.

"If there's anything we can do to help you with the final, let us know. If you want a practice fight or anything, we're up for it. At this point, we'd even loan you a few of our crews," Kay said, sincerely. Yukari looked at her commander, who merely smiled back.

"Alas, Sensha-do regulations limit the lend-lease of tanks and crew during the tournament," Nonna said.

She turned to Yukari. "Are you feeling well enough to walk? One of our team would like to speak with you."

Yukari stood up. "I just have a headache and feel a little sore. I'd be glad to come along."

"I'm going with you," said Kay.

Nonna nodded. "It is fine. You'd have learned soon enough anyways."

The group strolled over to the Pravda setup area, where the transports were bringing in the disabled Soviet tanks.

"It will be a while before everyone is here for the closing," said Nonna. "I understand at least one of the Shermans needs to be dug out." She gestured to the KV-2, Katyusha and its crew standing nearby.

"Was it Katyusha that wrote up your plan?" asked Yukari, stopping.

"Yes, at least most of it," said Nonna.

Kay walked over to the small girl. "I understand you're the one that outsmarted us," she said, extending her hand. "That was an excellent plan."

Katyusha frowned, but shook Kay's hand. "I didn't expect you to be able to send so many tanks through the woods."

"Hi Gomoyo!" said Yukari, waving at the girl working at cleaning the mud off the tank. "Are you on Katyusha's crew?"

"I'm her driver," the girl admitted slowly, looking at Nonna, apprehensive about what she could say in front of the Saunders tankers.

"Moyoko is an excellent driver and a good aide for Katyusha," said Nonna. "Hopefully, some day she will be strong as well, like Nina."

"Did you put Mako and Sodoko in the same tank?" asked Yukari, turning to Nonna. "That must have been fun."

Nonna just resumed walking, and the rest of the group followed.

They watched as a muddy yet undamaged tank drove into the staging area and stopped.

"That's not a T-34/76," said Yukari, walking up to look at the machine.

"It's a T-34 with a 57mm high velocity cannon," said Nonna. "Only a handful were modified this way. We used to use it as a training tank, because the smaller ammunition is easier to load. I was ordered to make it ready for this match."

The front hatch popped open, and Mako poked her head out. "I thought I saw you guys. Hi, Yukari," she said, sleepily.

"Hi Mako. When I heard what happened, I thought that the tank that went after Arisa must have been yours," Yukari replied. "Your grandmother looks good. I hope Pravda is treating you well."

Mako nodded. "We've reached an accommodation."

"Nice to meet you, Mako," said Kay.

Another figure popped out a top hatch and glared at Mako. "Stop fraternizing. Get out and get the mud off the tank."

"Mako is fine," said Nonna. "You all did well. We'll get some of the others to clean the tank off."

Sodoko climbed down and glared at Yukari. "Your scheming ways have done you no good, spy."

"Nice to see you too, Sodoko," said Yukari.

"Would one of you help me down from here?" came a voice from the turret.

Another head, with light brown hair tied in a pair of pigtails, poked out of the turret. The girl gingerly climbed out, and Nonna picked her up from the hull and set her down on the ground, with some effort.

Kay caught Yukari's surprised look. "Another old friend, Yukari?"

"Yep! Nice to meet you, Kay. And nice to finally meet you… again, Yukari. Gah, this 'other timeline' business of yours is so confusing," said the girl.

"Kadotani Anzu, former president of the Ōarai Student Council," Yukari introduced the newcomer to Kay. "I had wondered where you ended up."

The girl pulled a bag from her Pravda uniform jacket. "Dried sweet potato?" she extended the bag to the group. Seeing no takers, she returned it to her pocket.

"It's nice to meet you, Anzu," said Kay, extending her hand.

Anzu returned the handshake. "Actually, at Pravda, it's Chairman Anzu," she said, grinning.

* * *

Next: XXXII: Black Forest Summit

Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone that's given me feedback! I'm making progress on finishing out the parts of the story I still need to write, as well as improving the writing on the parts I have written but not posted.

We already knew how this battle was supposed to turn out, so the result shouldn't come as a surprise, though the cause might be one. I don't think the Pravda additions increase the team's power too much, and they fit. Nonna gets to use her favorite tank, the SU-100. And Anzu gets to be Anzu, and troll Arisa. I like Anzu as a character, but she's best used sparingly less she overpower everyone else.


	32. Black Forest Summit

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXXII: Black Forest Summit

by Civilis

* * *

Yukari stared at Kadotani Anzu, former President of Ōarai's Student Council and currently a Pravda tanker.

"You're the Pres… Chairman of Pravda's Student Council?" asked Yukari, incredulously.

The looks from Nonna, Klara, and Sodoko told Yukari all she needed to know.

"I became President of Ōarai's student council my first year in high school. Pravda's previous Student Council was even more inept than Ōarai's, so it was easy for me to take over. Still, Nonna and Klara were both very competent at running the Sensha-Do team. I wouldn't have gotten involved, except they happened to find out that girls from Oarai happen to be really skilled at Sensha-Do, including both of my old friends from the Student Council," Anzu explained.

"I couldn't let Momo show me up. I think today proves I've picked up the knack again," she said, smiling. "Plus, Mako's as good a driver as anyone, and Sodoko's a decent gunner and loader." Sodoko looked pleased at the praise. Mako, meanwhile, climbed out of the driver's hatch and looked around for a place to take a nap.

"I thought that looked like your handiwork in the replay," said Yukari. "Instead of a Pz38(t) against T-34s, it was a T-34/57 against Shermans."

"I don't remember all the details of this 'other lifetime' of yours," said Anzu. "Still, I managed to do quite well in my first match, though a lot of that was thanks to the team's plan. I must admit, Arisa was more alert and didn't panic as much as we expected. I was hoping to knock her out myself, but forcing her into Nonna's sights worked well enough."

"Congratulations on your win," said Kay, stiffly, her usual good humor gone.

"Let me guess, you've heard the stories from Yukari?" said Anzu. "I'm not that much of a monster. It's Nonna, Katyusha and Klara's win, it's the team's win. I may be the Chairman, but like at Ōarai, on the field I'm part of the team."

"You did order them to get you a tank," said Kay, glancing at Nonna. "You may even have phrased it as a request. But I know Pravda's reputation."

"[Wow,]" said Klara in Russian, "[This turned ugly.]"

"[I know,]" said Nonna. "[What's worse is, Kay has a point.]"

The group watched the two talk in Russian.

"[Yeah, but Anzu isn't that bad. We're partially to blame here. We did go a little overboard,]" said Klara.

"What are you two talking about?" said Sodoko.

Nonna stiffened. "Midoriko, Nozomi, you and Moyoko have more than contributed to the morale of the Pravda Sensha-Do team and boosted the reputation of our Discipline Committee. As such, your volunteer service is hereby completed."

Anzu laughed and looked at the two Pravda commanders. "Oh no, you two. Let me guess, you were discussing something about how you two are just like me in dragooning these girls into it. Perhaps I should have you pull a few shifts helping the Discipline Committee? Perhaps I should pull a few shifts myself as the one ultimately responsible?"

Mako spoke up from where she was trying to find a comfortable seat in one of the Pravda trucks that was still mud-free. "Yukari, Kay, this is Pravda. It's not nearly as bad as it seems. Nonna has been willing to make… allowances for me. Besides, I'm sure if I have any problems after today some other school would be willing to take in a skilled driver." She gave Nonna a sidelong glance. "I hear Keizoku's always looking for drivers."

Nonna raised an eyebrow at Mako, while Klara laughed.

"That's because you keep ignoring the rules, you dissident," said Sodoko.

Pazomi raised her hand, and politely waited until everyone was looking at her. "I think our contribution to the team effort helps both the school and the Discipline Committee. I want to stay on the team. I know Gomoyo feels the same way."

"Anzu," said Yukari, heavily, "would you tell me one thing?"

Anzu nodded. "Sure."

"Promise to be honest about this?" Yukari asked.

The rest of the group turned to Yukari.

"I promise," said Anzu.

Yukari sighed heavily. "In the other timeline, you didn't tell us the school was closing until the middle of the semi-finals. Are you aware of anything like that this time?"

"No, why do you ask?" said Anzu, puzzlement on her face.

"Any rumors of major upcoming changes that would affect Sensha-Do?" Yukari asked.

"I haven't heard of anything like that," said Anzu. "Then again, I haven't been paying much attention."

Behind the short Pravda chairman, Yukari caught Nonna and Klara exchanging nervous glances.

"[Could there be something to those rumors after all?]" Nonna whispered to Klara.

"[I don't know how, but this could be some sort of confirmation,]" said Klara.

"That was Russian. From the tone, you two know something," said Anzu, without turning around. "Something you haven't told me."

"Well, they are only rumors," said Nonna.

Anzu waited.

"Given that Kuromorimine keeps winning the Sensha-Do tournament every year," Nonna said, uncharacteristically nervously, "we've heard rumors of the Ministry looking changing the Sensha-Do program…"

Anzu waited.

The silence was broken by Kay. "Actually, this sounds like it might be important. We do happen to have two other team commanders here. Perhaps they should be in on the discussion?"

* * *

"Oh… my stomach," said Yuzu, on the mound where the St. Gloriana detachment had set up camp. "That meal was…"

"It was certainly… unique," said Hana. She didn't look nearly as pale as the others, despite having eaten most of four History Club Specials to get the food out of the way. Assam, Orange Pekoe, and Rosehip had had prior experience with Darjeeling's taste in food, and had wisely decided to put off eating. Still, the smell itself had turned their stomachs.

"It was indeed unique. I quite enjoyed it," said Darjeeling, obliviously. Food was one of her rare blind spots.

"I think I'm seeing things," Yuzu continued. "That looks like Anzu."

"Yo!" said Anzu, walking up to the group, leading the Pravda command staff and the two Saunders tankers. Per Kay's warning, she had stayed upwind of the Food Truck. This had earned the two Saunders girls a look from Nonna and the Discipline Committee members and a smile from Klara, Mako and Anzu.

"It is Anzu!" Yuzu smiled and waved.

Darjeeling stood up and walked over to the group. "A former Ōarai student! Nice to meet you!"

"Yep, Kadotani Anzu. Former Ōarai Student Council President, now a humble student here at Pravda."

"And current Chairman of Pravda's Student Council," said Kay, still uncharacteristically unhappy.

"I am increasingly impressed by Ōarai's former students, even beyond their talent for Sensha-Do," said Darjeeling, staring down at the girl. "In just under two months after transferring, one is heading a club at St. Gloriana, one is team manager to Anchovy at Anzio, and now I find one has risen to the top at Pravda. Congratulations on your win, Chairman. I assume based on the looks around you that this isn't just a social call?"

"Yukari has something she needs to talk about, and Nonna has some rumors which may be important," said Kay. "Since it's all related to Sensha-Do, we figured it best to get everyone on the same page."

"You are as magnanimous in defeat as in victory, Kay. And I'm glad to see you back on your feet, Yukari. Shall we find the Anzio leaders then?" said Darjeeling.

"Hey, Duce, looks like some people are looking for you," said Carpaccio, waiting tables at the Anzio / Saunders concession area.

"Nonna's near the front," said Anchovy. "Please tell me they're not going to lodge a complaint about the History Club. I knew that trick would end up backfiring on us."

"That's Darjeeling and Kay with her, and Kay does not look happy. I know Darjeeling got food from the History Club, they told me when I went to get some extra plates from them," Carpaccio replied.

"What? Why didn't you tell me this? Great, now I have two commanders after my head," Anchovy replied. "Here they come, act innocent." She headed off to look busy.

Carpaccio ran over to intercept the group. "Ciao! Welcome to Anzio Pizza! For such a distinguished group, I'm sure we can find a quality table. Would you like some grape juice while you wait?"

"We're here to see Anchovy," said Nonna.

"Ah… just a second," said Carpaccio. She waved over Anchovy.

"Welcome! It is a delight to have three of the finest commanders in Sensha-Do at our humble establishment. Congratulations on your victory, Nonna!" said Anchovy.

"Chovy!" Anzu waved at the Anzio commander. "Where's Momo?"

Anchovy stared at the smaller girl. Seeing her escorted by the imposing Klara and Nonna, she decided not to protest the informality. "Ah… she's washing dishes at the moment."

Anzu laughed. "This I have to see. Come on, we need to talk to you two."

The group went around back of the food trucks, where an Anzio truck was providing cleaning services for the cooking utensils. Momo was busy scrubbing pans, for which she had added an apron and elbow-length rubber gloves to her already complicated Anzio outfit.

"Momo!" called Anzu. "You missed a spot!"

Momo turned and drew herself up to yell at the interruption. Catching sight of the smiling smaller figure, she stopped and deflated. "Anzu? It's really you. What are you doing here?"

"It looks like you've done well for yourself," Anzu said, grinning. "Washing dishes, though?"

Anchovy stomped over to Anzu and drew herself up.

"Momo is a valuable, no, irreplaceable part of our team. Thanks to her, we're more organized, more prepared and more disciplined than ever. More importantly, we're making a proft, thanks to her. I will not have you insulting my assistant," bellowed Duce Anchovy. "Now, apologize."

"Wow, I've never seen you this worked up, Chovy," said Anzu.

Duce Anchovy stared down at the smaller girl. One by one, the Pravda students stepped back away from their Chairman, with Nonna herself finally backing down last.

"Fine," said Anzu. "Momo, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I was being sincere. Darjeeling herself speaks highly of you, and I know Anzai wouldn't let anyone but someone she really respected wear a cape like hers. I'm glad to see that you and Yuzu both landed on your feet and hit the ground running after I failed to save Ōarai. Now, something has come up and we need to talk to you and Anchovy about it."

"[I didn't believe it, but it's true!]" said Klara. "[Anchovy really is that intimidating when she's mad!]"

"[You can Panzerkraft fangirl later, Klara,]" said Nonna.

"Anzu, I… I'm glad to see you again," said Momo. Turning to Anchovy, she continued, "Anzu's just like that. She's an old friend, and someone else I really respect. Thank you, though, for standing up for me."

"Do we want to keep this secret?" asked Klara, glancing at all the students from Saunders, Anzio, and Pravda standing around, watching the gathering. Duce Anchovy's angry voice had captured everyone's attention.

"From who?" asked Kay. "Kuromorimine won't bother, and all the other major teams are here. Besides, there are a lot of us."

Nonna raised her voice and looked at Sodoko and Pazomi. "You two, keep watch. Anyone that comes too close, you have the authority of the Chairman of the Student Council here to assign them Potato Duty, regardless of which school they attend."

The ring of students observing the gathering quickly expanded. Pekoe dragged over a now-vacant table and a stack of chairs.

"Chairman?" asked Anchovy.

Anzu smiled. "Yep, but here I'm just a team member."

Anchovy went pale at the realization she'd just unknowingly threatened Pravda's Chairman.

"Relax," said Anzu, seeing the look on her face, "it's good knowing Momo's in capable hands."

"Ok, first, just for confirmation, what's the status of Ōarai's former team members?" asked Darjeeling. "Last count was four missing. The Chairman, I presume, lowers that to three."

"Yep," said Kay. "32 total. Six at St. Gloriana, six at Anzio, five at Pravda, eleven for us…"

"Eleven?" asked Nonna. "I just know of Yukari."

"You got lucky," said Kay. "We found ten too late to bring to the match. How did you find the Chairman, anyways?"

"One of our spies saw the big meeting after the Anzio match and got in close enough to listen," said Nonna. "We heard something about Oarai, though at the time the details weren't entirely clear. I thought it was one of your famous Saunders pranks, but we did hear about Yukari coming to see her friend… although we were expecting her to sneak aboard in our uniform."

"That was a change in plans on my part," said Yukari.

"I took what I had to the student council, only to have our Chairman here inform me she was also an Oarai transfer student," Nonna continued. "She's the one that gave me instructions on what to do if you showed up. We didn't expect that you would try to persuade Mako to do Sensha-Do at Pravda."

"It did help that at Anzio, they got pictures of Momo and Yuzu," added Anzu. "If those two had been doing Sensha-Do at Oarai, I would have been with them. So I volunteered to try, and it was odd, after a couple of shots it felt natural, as if it was something I knew how to do but had forgotten. We then tried Mako as a driver, after getting her out of class for a day, and she learned that quickly. Then we took your hint and Nonna asked… or is that 'asked'… the three Discipline Committee members to volunteer."

"So Yukari is the one that recruited players for Pravda?" said Darjeeling. "I wonder if some of Kay's ideals are rubbing off on her?"

"So, the ones we haven't contacted are the one still at Kuromorimine, and three we don't know from the computer gaming group. I never even learned their real names; they registered their gaming handles as nomme-de-guerres at Ōarai, so that's all that was on the record. I guess they would have gone to schools with good computer programming courses?" said Yukari.

"A lot of schools have that, now. They could be anywhere," said Yuzu.

"I've tried looking, but I never got into gaming," said Assam. "I don't really know where to look."

"They're bound to turn up eventually," said Kay. "That's the way these things have to work."

* * *

Some distance from the gathering, Mako had just sat down at one of the vacant Anzio tables for a nap when she was disturbed by someone putting down a plate of pasta in front of her.

" 'm not hungry," she managed to get out, and half-heartedly pushed the plate away.

"Sensha-do takes a lot of energy," said a familiar voice. "You need to eat something."

"Saori?" Mako turned to see her friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Serving dinner," Saori replied. "But I came all this way to see you. How is Pravda?"

"Tiring," Mako replied. "But it seems to have worked out."

"I'm glad. Now eat, before it gets cold," Saori ordered, as she pushed the plate toward her friend.

"Thanks," Mako managed to get out, before chowing down on the food.

Saori sat down next to her friend and smiled.

* * *

"Kay, there you are!" came Arisa's call from the edge of the ring of chairs where the various team commanders and former Oarai students were sitting.

The two Discipline Committee members moved in to block the girl from entering the group. "No one enters, orders from the Chairman," Sodoko said.

"Kay?" said Arisa.

"Let her in," said Kay, and the two girls stepped aside.

"Thank you," said Arisa, joining the group.

"You can join us, but you're still going to do Potato Duty, whatever that is," said Kay.

"As a token of leniency, we can overlook Potato Duty in this case," said Nonna.

"No! She broke the rule, she gets Potato Duty," said Kay. "Midoriko is doing an important job, and it would be remiss to let the rules slide. Arisa is hereby assigned Potato Duty, as soon as I figure out what Potato Duty is."

Arisa stared at her commander.

"We don't want Arisa after what happened at Anzio," said Nonna. "She's been around Yukari too long."

"She can help Momo with the dishes after this," said Duce Anchovy, remembering Arisa's absence after the Anzio battle. "Is that acceptable, Midoriko?"

Sodoko nodded, smiling that the commanders were respecting her name and position. "In the interests of détente, we accept Dish Duty as an acceptable alternative to Potato Duty."

"I'm not getting out of this, am I?" sighed Arisa. "Fine."

"You said something about Yukari. Since she's at the root of this, let's hear what she has to say,"  
said Darjeeling.

"This is going to sound odd, and I'm having trouble believing it myself…" started Yukari.

"Your memories of the 'other timeline' have shown up in other people, so there's something very strange going on," said Kay, comforting her. "We can't overlook that."

The other girls nodded in agreement.

"All right," Yukari continued, "I saw… it called itself a Kami, the Kami of Tanks, if you will. It said that it was responsible for history changing and our memories of the other timeline. It said it needed help."

"What did it want?" said Darjeeling.

"Are we supposed to save the world or something?" said Anchovy. "That's a lot for us to handle."

"It said that the change it had caused had inadvertently caused something bad. It said that it would end up destroying Sensha-Do."

"So, no saving the world, at least," said Anchovy.

Most of the girls looked relieved, though a few, most notably Rosehip, looked disappointed.

"So, if this is true, how are you supposed to save Sensha-Do?" said Nonna.

"It said that Kuromorimine and Miho needed to be defeated," Yukari replied.

"And you said you'd help it?" said Anzu.

"No, I said that my objective was to save Miho. That if I could do both, I would, but my friend came first." Yukari stared down at the ground.

"Was that wise?" asked Nonna.

Hana grabbed Yukari's shoulder and squeezed gently. "I think you did the right thing."

Kay nodded as well. "Friends come first."

"The Kami said that it might be enough, and that I would have one more chance," Yukari replied. She relayed what she remembered of the cryptic warning to the aptly listening girls.

"Is that why you offered to help us, Kay?" said Nonna.

"Well, partly. That was also an awesome fight. I was sincere in that," said Kay. "Still, you said something about rumors, which may be related to Yukari's vision."

"As you know, the National Sensha-Do Federation has announced that an international tournament will be held in Japan in two years," said Nonna. "We've been hearing that pressure is coming down on the Ministry of Education to make sure that Japan is prepared, given our proud tradition as the home of the sport, and that the Ministry is putting pressure on the Sensha-Do Federation. A lot of other countries are stepping up their programs as well. All I've heard though is that the Ministry has proposed changes, but nothing specific."

Nearby, Klara tried to look innocent.

"That doesn't sound like there's something threatening the future of Sensha-Do," said Darjeeling.

Yuzu jerked suddenly from where she was contemplating her groaning stomach. "Wait! Think about this from the perspective of whatever sent the vision to Yukari. They said we needed to defeat Kuromorimine specifically, and the change that happened was giving Kuromorimine a perfect record. Could that factor into it?"

"Nice catch!" said Anzu. "Almost all Sensha-Do players start their career at the high school level. So, to someone not familiar with Sensha-Do, it looks like Kuromorimine is the absolute best high school level Sensha-Do program given their perfect record. If you didn't understand Sensha-Do, and wanted better high school Sensha-Do, you'd replicate Kuromorimine's program."

"Kuromorimine wins because it has the heaviest tanks," said Darjeeling, "not because their crews are substantially better. They are well trained, admittedly, but not nearly as flexible."

"Which is why, in the other timeline, Ōarai defeated them with an inferior tank force," said Anzu. "St. Gloriana nearly won the other day. Kuromorimine would have even more problems with a team equipped with tanks equal to theirs in power. At the university and professional levels, most teams are very well equipped, and I don't want to even think about the national teams."

"This also may explain why the Education Ministry has been cutting the budgets of smaller teams," said Momo. "I don't know what Anzio had as far as money in the other timeline, but I had to really work and beg to get the money for Anzio's tanks to qualify for the tournament."

"Keizoku, despite having a strong team, had to sit this tournament out for a similar reason," said Nonna. "They couldn't buy enough tanks… or steal enough, at any rate." She looked at the Saunders tankers. "I'm really glad Yukari didn't end up at Keizoku."

Anchovy, Nonna, and Arisa shivered at the thought.

"Ok, so we have reason to believe the Education Ministry is up to something," said Anzu, summarizing the situation. "We can now expect there might be substantial demands to change our programs should Kuromorimine win the Nationals. That means we need to beat them in the finals. Saunders apparently has already offered to help."

"We have enough tanks," Nonna politely rejected the offer, "and tournament regulations don't allow lend-lease transfers of tanks or crews during the tournament."

"There are a lot of people that faced Kuromorimine in the other timeline," Kay gestured to the former Oarai students. "We can loan you some intelligence experts to let you know what you will likely be facing. Yukari, Arisa, any problems with that?"

"Fine," Arisa sulked, "as long as they promise no Potato Duty."

"So long as you behave yourselves, no Potato Duty," promised Nonna.

"Have you heard this saying? 'Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.' We have some mechanical geniuses," Darjeeling offered. "Perhaps we can make sure your tanks are in as good a condition as possible?"

"I guess we can provide catering," said Anchovy. "Still, there's one thing that bugs me. Yukari said her vision said that she herself would have a chance to save Sensha-Do. This doesn't sound like it."

"True," said Anzu, thinking. "We'll come up with a back-up plan, just in case. If we lose the finals, though, any last minute heroics are going to mean facing off against the Education Ministry off the field. The Ministry is a formidable political opponent. I'd like Yuzu and Momo to help me work things from that end. We were a formidable team ourselves, once, we can be one again."

"Anzu, I think Assam can help us as well," said Yuzu, gesturing to the blonde gunner. "She's good at working with computers and data."

"Excellent idea," said Anzu. "Any problems, Darjeeling? Assam? I'll make sure to have our Tea Appreciation club roll out the red carpet."

"That would be splendid. I'm sure she'd be most helpful," said Darjeeling, turning to her gunner. "if Assam agrees."

"I think I can help," said Assam, blushing.

"Also," Darjeeling added, "I have contacts at some of the other schools. I'll see if anyone else knows anything or can give us any help."

"Good." Anzu stood up and addressed the group. "Anyone have any objections to this alliance to save Miho and Sensha-Do?"

"Saunders is in," Kay replied immediately.

"St. Gloriana has no objections," continued Darjeeling.

"Anzio will do what it can," said Anchovy, skeptically.

Anzu looked at Nonna. "Nonna, you're the team leader."

"No objections, Chairman," the tall Pravda tanker replied.

Anzu frowned. "You're the team commander. Do you have any objections?"

Nonna gave Anzu a rare genuine smile. "No objections… Comrade Anzu."

Anzu turned to Yukari. "Yukari? It's your vision. Any objections?"

"No," Yukari replied, smiling. "Thank you all."

"All right, then. Meeting adjourned. We'll exchange emails after the closing ceremony… we've kept them waiting long enough," said Anzu.

"Arisa, don't forget to help Momo with the dishes after the closing ceremony," added Kay.

* * *

Next: Always Advancing XXXIII: Baptism by Fire

Author's Notes: I had fun coming up with the names for some of the chapters. This one's one of my favorites for the double meaning, but I also like the whole string of names for the Anzio match, and the 'Pravda, Justice, and the Saunders Way' chapter.

One of the fun bits has been that while the knowledge of the future they have is only of marginal usefulness due to the differing timeline, the whole situation has made a number of the characters incredibly genre-savvy. Just as the readers can make guesses as to what's going to happen, it makes them more intelligent that the characters are able to predict some of the potential twists and at least prepare somewhat.

While I said last chapter that I liked Anzu as a character, she really is horrible to Miho in the first episode, only excusable by the specific circumstances which you don't know at the time. When I originally wrote this, I didn't have a good idea of how this was going to go, so Kay's reaction is entirely seat-of-the-pants, but I think that makes it fit her character extremely well. Likewise, Nonna's reaction to Kay's reaction helped me nail down the theme: this is a sport, the players should be here because they want to be here.

The little interaction between Saori and Mako is a product of feedback from reviewers of earlier parts of the story. It was definitely something I had missed, and it definitely adds to the section.


	33. Baptism by Fire

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXXIII: Baptism by Fire

by Civilis

* * *

"Finally back home," said Kay, as the Saunders jeep rounded the last corner on the drive to the gates of the Saunders Tankery range the next morning. "I only wish it was in triumph."

"At least we have a week before we head back to Pravda to get them ready for the finals," Arisa replied, her usual snark subdued. "We can get the mechanics fixing the tanks, in case we have a chance to use them again."

"There certainly seem to be a lot of people waiting in front of the gate," Naomi said from her relaxed position in the back seat. "Looks like something's up."

Indeed, there was a crowd of Saunders students waiting at the gate to the Tankery range. A harried School Patrol Discipline Committee member was trying to wave them out of the way so the jeep could get through. Finally, the crowd parted and the SP opened the gate just enough to get the jeep inside.

Ahead of them, at the garages, sat a number of Saunders Shermans. All showed visible signs of battle damage.

"I thought we told the Transport Section to leave the tanks on their transports at the airstrip over night?" Arisa asked her teammates.

The team had finally gotten from the field back to the School Carrier very late in the evening, due to the delayed match closing ceremony. The decision had been made to let the tired Transport Section members off as soon as they got back, especially after their hard work managing the convoy before the match. Kay had even told them to take it easy for a couple of days and to just get the tanks back to the garage when they could.

"If they did, they should have taken the tanks down to the main garage for repairs, not just dump them in front of the garage," Naomi pondered, as she sat up. Her tank had survived the match, so it wasn't in any danger of being left out. Still, it didn't look good to have a pile of damaged tanks sitting around.

"That's a lot more Shermans than we lost in the match," Arisa said, counting the white flags. "And they all look to be regular M4A1s."

"At least one of those tanks isn't a Sherman," Naomi pointed to a bulge just visible over the tanks in front.

There was a honk from behind them, at the gate. Over the gate they could see the cab of a tank transporter, trying to get through the crowd with Naomi's Firefly. Behind it, a couple of others had lined up.

"Kay!" came a voice from the garages. The Saunders commander recognized it as one of her tank commanders, the most senior one that had been left out of the order of battle. She had been given the task of holding down the fort and keeping up with training the newer tankers.

"What happened here?" Arisa demanded. "What did you do while we were gone?"

"Well," said the girl, "it's like this…"

* * *

She had been handed a cryptic set of orders by Kay, just before the Saunders commanders had set out to watch the St. Gloriana match.

When they couldn't arrange to fight another school in a practice match, Saunders tankers faced off against each other. That meant pitting Sherman against Sherman. It meant that they knew the strengths and weaknesses of the Sherman inside and out, but they had no experience facing off against other types of tanks.

To rectify that Kay had told her there were some volunteers from some of the other clubs who had agreed to crew some different tanks as a sort of test. Kay had the repair crews ready a M5 Stuart light tank and a M3 Lee medium tank taken out of the storeroom. The volunteers would have a morning to learn the tanks with the help of a couple of trainers. They would then face off in the afternoon against a couple of Shermans manned by the new trainees in Training Company B.

The trainees had objected. Surely, this wasn't fair to the volunteers. The trainees had more than a month's experience with the Sherman, which was better than either of the tanks the volunteers would have. In truth, it had sounded rather unfair to her as well, but orders were orders, they would be using inert practice ammo, and she had been told she could call off the practice at any time if it looked like it wasn't working. Specifically, she had been told to call it off if either side was having a rough time of it.

That was a warning she should have listened to.

The volunteers had seemed eager if green. The girls from the volleyball club had the strength and dexterity to man the small tank they had been assigned, but knew nothing about tanks. The movie club girls had gotten all they knew about tanks from movies, which was almost worse. Still, their trainers had said they picked up on what they needed to do quickly. In fact, they had the tanks up and on the range well before noon, so they brought the two Shermans out early.

Things did not go as expected. The two Shermans could hardly hit either of the two volunteer tanks, which spent about an hour driving around and pinging inert practice ammo off their armor before she called them to stop. She had come to the conclusion that the trainees weren't taking the volunteers seriously, and were holding back for fear of hurting them. So, in the afternoon, she had taken two other training crews and issued both sides live match ammo.

This had been a mistake. Fifteen minutes later, two Shermans sat in need of repair.

* * *

"Kay… did you really?" asked Arisa, interrupting the story.

Kay smiled. "Yep."

"Go on," Naomi replied, curious to know exactly this fiasco had unfolded.

* * *

The girl in charge of overseeing the test with the volunteers had looked at the two smoking knocked-out Shermans. She concluded that the result had been a fluke. She called for more trainees to see if it truly was a fluke. Three Shermans rolled out onto the field. Like the first two, they were loaded with live match ammo.

This had been another mistake. A half hour later three more inoperable Shermans needed to be drug to the front of the garages to join the first two.

The head of the volleyball team and a couple of girls from the movie club had stopped by. Finding out their friends had been put in tanks and put up against the Tankery Team had unnerved them. They said it was unfair. They didn't want to see their friends at risk. She had told them their friends were doing fine, and they could stay and watch with her from the tower. The remaining five teams of Training Company B drove onto the field to avenge their comrades. They had rebuffed all recommendations to switch the practice back to inert practice ammunition.

This had been yet another mistake. An hour later, five more Shermans had joined the earlier five in front of the garages.

* * *

"It was impossible!" said the girl in charge of the test. "The volleyball club can hit on the move better than anyone I've ever seen! And the movie club alternates between sniping and ramming their foes!"

"The whole point is to get people used to other styles of combat," Kay explained. "Sounds like the new trainees learned something."

"There are more than ten Shermans parked in front of the garages, though," said Naomi.

* * *

The visiting girls from the other clubs had gone from skeptical to enthusiastic at seeing the actual battle. The volunteers, meanwhile, were all smiles as well. Meanwhile, the crews of Training Company A, mostly second years, had been mocking their juniors for their failure, and insisting they could do it better. It had been getting late, and she had told everyone that they'd pick up where they left off in the morning. The volleyball team leader and the movie club guests had been there at the time.

This had been still another mistake. In the morning, the volunteers had been waiting alongside the members of Training Company A. With them were the entire volleyball team and all the movie club members. The movie club had even brought in a camera setup to film their friends in action.

She had enough sense of mind to set up a safe area for the observers in one of the garages. The camera crew could watch from the tower, and the footage would be projected for the people watching. Now knowing they were going to be on video, the more experienced Training Company A members insisted that they stick to the live match ammo to preserve their pride.

* * *

"What is that?" asked Arisa, as the story progressed. "Mistake number five?"

"Sounds like someone needs Potato Duty," said Naomi, who had laughed at hearing about Arisa's punishment the previous evening.

"I didn't see you try to join us after Nonna made her threat," said Arisa.

"Go on," Kay said, smiling as she gestured for the story to continue.

* * *

Two Training Company A Shermans rolled out to defend the honor of the Tankery Team. Twenty minutes later, one had been rammed into a tree by the Lee, which had then proceeded to put a 37mm round into the other Sherman's turret ring. The pinned Sherman had been knocked out by a shot to the rear by the Stuart.

Two more Shermans joined the ten already sitting in front of the garage.

Four more Training Company A Shermans rolled out. This time, the Lee played sniper, while the Stuart raced around the Sherman formation, picking off tanks. One Sherman ended up throwing a track due to a tree the Lee dropped in front of it. The Stuart's commander added smoke markers to the tank's arsenal, further confusing the battle. The match had ended after an hour, and they called a break for the Sherman's crew to fix the track.

Three more Shermans had joined the dozen wrecks.

During the break, she went down to see the observation area to find it packed. The girls watching had called their friends, who had called their friends, who had ordered pizza. Training Company B had joined them to revel in the humiliation of their seniors. The SP that had been guarding the gate was seated nearby, munching away on a slice, watching as the screen showed highlights of the previous match and footage of Yukari's exploits at Anzio during the break in the action.

* * *

"Sounds like someone else who needs Potato Duty," Arisa griped.

The girl responsible for the wreckage looked at Kay. "Was this some kind of a joke? A test?"

"Not exactly," said Kay, taking pity. "I did leave something out when I briefed you, and in retrospect that makes this entire thing my fault. I will explain everything at the after-action review this evening. Still, one of these days we will have a talk about when to use live ammo in training, and how to keep a handle on public relations."

"And then Potato Duty," Arisa added, as she was really looking to see someone else humiliated besides her.

"But first, finish your story," said Naomi.

* * *

They had damaged 15 Shermans, the girl in charge realized, without being able to land a hit capable of knocking out a Stuart and a Lee crewed by what were supposed to be completely inexperienced volunteers. This was no fluke. Something was wrong. Further, the match with Pravda was the next day, and so she had one more shot before Kay returned to see the mess. This needed to end, for her pride, for her honor, for her dignity, for her sanity.

She gathered up the remaining three Training Company A crews, the crew of the de-tracked Sherman, another veteran crew that had stayed behind and her own veteran crew. They plotted what they needed to do. Six Shermans rolled out for one last round.

In the end, it had been enough. Four Shermans were still operational when the Lee finally went down under a hail of fire. They then cornered the Stuart, and were able to take it out at the cost of one more Sherman.

* * *

"You wrecked twenty tanks in what was supposed to be a training session with inert ammo?" said Arisa, incredulously.

"It took three to one odds to bring down a Lee and a Stuart?" Naomi managed to get out while laughing.

The girl nodded weakly.

Kay patted the girl on the back. "Let's get these some of these tanks out of the way so we can get the trucks into the garage. First, though, did the volunteers stop by this morning?"

"Yeah, they came by hoping to see if they'd have another chance to drive a tank. They're down in the conference room. That may be why everyone else is at the gate, they're hoping for another match. We also had the place open yesterday to watch the real match on TV. Afterwards we watched movies, and some of the girls put up a net to play volleyball with the team girls." She looked down at the ground, sheepishly. "I still need to get the mess from that cleaned up as well."

"While we're still going to have a talk," said Kay, patiently, "I'm going to limit your punishment to making sure that everything is cleaned up by the team review meeting this evening. And just get enough of the Shermans out of the way so that we can get to the garage, we'll worry about the rest later."

* * *

"Hi everyone!" said Kay, walking in to the conference room where the volleyball team and movie club volunteers were waiting.

"Commander!" said one of the movie club girls. "I'm sorry we damaged all your tanks. We… we didn't…"

Most of the other movie club girls, save for the slightly spacy one Kay recalled was Saki, cowered behind her.

"You're Azusa, right?" said Kay, remembering Yukari's descriptions. "It was my fault, not explaining things ahead of time. And please, call me Kay. Did you have fun? That's the important thing."

"Yeah, it was," said the one with glasses, Aya. "Well, the first time it was fricking scary, but then I shot the other tanks a few times and then it was like an action movie."

"My friends couldn't believe I was blowing up all your tanks," the tall one, Ayumi, added.

"I had fun," said Yuuki, "even though I was just loading."

"It was awesome!" chipped in a rather hyper girl. "They came at us, and it was, 'bam bam bam', and then Ayumi was like 'bang' and things exploded, then I rammed this one tank, and Aya went 'bang' and the other tank went 'bam' and… tanks are awesome."

Kay had heard about Karina. "Would you do it again?" she asked the girl.

Karina nodded vigorously. "Yep!"

"Definitely," said Yuuki, speaking for the group. "There's watching it on screen, and there's watching it right there."

"Though from the dreams we've been having, it seems we may have done this before," said Azusa.

The four volleyball club girls, who had been silently watching from the side, exchanged glances.

Noriko, as the most senior of the three, elected to walk forward. She looked at Kay unhappily. "You show up to the team asking about former Ōarai volleyball players. You knew what you were looking for, and you told us nothing."

Kay sat down in one of the chairs. "Would you have believed me?" she asked. "Would you have believed some crazy story about another world where Ōarai didn't close? I know it took a lot of proof for me to believe it."

"You could have tried," said another player, Shinobu. "We would have at least listened."

"I should have. But I can't change what I've done," admitted Kay.

"Why?" asked the blonde volleyball player, Akebi. "Why did you do it?"

The answer came from a most unexpected source. "Miho."

Everyone turned to look at Saki, who had stopped staring into space.

"I… I remember Miho," said Azusa. "She's in many of these mysterious memories of Ōarai I've had lately."

"It's like that Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruka movie," Karina added, sniffling, "where Takishi wakes up in the other world and nobody remembers Haruka. That's so sad…"

"That's part of it, but not the most important part," Kay replied. "I don't really know Miho. I've met her, once, at the tournament opening. But I do know Yukari, and Yukari is my friend. And she remembers being Miho's friend, and remembers being your friends. And friends help friends. It doesn't make it right, but it's why I did what I did."

The movie club first years looked at each other, even Saki. They came to silent agreement. "We want in," Azusa said, determination in her voice. "We can watch movies any time. This is our chance to be there, to be the hero."

Taeko, last of the volleyball club players, spoke up. "I don't know. We're not tankers. We're volleyball players. This is our chance to make the volleyball team."

"Yeah," Akebi replied, "but we are still on the bench. While we haven't won the nationals in years, our team is good."

"I think we got in more volleyball yesterday against your trainees than we normally get in practice. Your guys need help if you can't beat us while we're down two people", said Shinobu.

"And what's her name, Arisa, could use help with her serve," added Akebi.

Noriko looked at her teammates. "We need to think it over."

"Again, I'm sorry for not being up front with you all. There's not much I can do besides apologize. And you've made me realize that you're not the only people I need to apologize to for not being completely open. I'll need to talk to the team this evening before I can say whether or not your group is in, Azusa. Noriko, think it over. If you decide not to, there's no pressure." Kay turned and left the room.

* * *

Next: Always Advancing XXXIV: Band of Sisters

Author's Notes: Much as I like the Freshmen movie buffs and the Volleyball Team, there's not as much story there as there is with some of the other crews.


	34. Band of Sisters

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXXIV: Band of Sisters

by Civilis

* * *

That evening, at the post-battle review meeting, Kay got up before the assembled Saunders tankers.

"Attention everyone!" she called.

When the assembled tankers had adopted a semblance of order, she began to speak. "I have a few important things to go over with you this evening. What you're about to hear is very personal and very emotional. I must ask that you keep it strictly secret. If you can't do that, I must ask you to wait outside."

From the crowd, Naomi spoke up. "If any of you blab this, we will make your life miserable."

"Potato Duty?" came a voice from the crowd, followed by laughter from much of the team.

"Potato Duty, or anything Pravda could do, will seem nice and relaxing compared to what we will do," Naomi said, keeping her tone serious, causing the laughter to stop.

There was much murmuring among the crowd, but nobody left.

"Is this about Oddball's… oddness?" came another voice.

"Yes, it's about Oddball," said Kay. "You will likely not believe what we have to say, but we've found confirmation at St. Gloriana, Anzio, Pravda, and now right here. Yukari, you up for this?"

Yukari, who had agreed with Kay's decision to explain everything, nodded, got up, and walked to the podium.

"Let me tell you a story," she said, "about my time doing Sensha-Do, at a school called Ōarai…"

She walked through her story of her time at Ōarai. She was light on the details of the battles, but heavy on the friendships forged, both among the team, and with the various teams they had faced in battle. She then filled in the details of where those friends were now.

"So those girls from the volleyball and movie clubs, they're like you?" asked a voice in the crowd.

"They don't have many of the recovered memories I do, but the skills were still there, buried. Having them spend time with tanks similar to the ones they had before helped them relearn those skills," said Yukari.

"I didn't tell you all because I wasn't sure how to explain this," said Kay. "I should have trusted you. Not doing so was a mistake. We're in this together. That's why we're up here today, to explain ourselves and let you decide where to go from here."

"Why?" came another voice from the crowd. "Yeah, I would have preferred if you trusted us, but it is kind of an unbelievable story. I can't blame you for thinking we wouldn't believe it."

"I don't know," said another, "I've been having weird dreams for a while. This might explain it."

"So are we going to bring the movie club first years and the volleyball players in?" asked a third.

"I was hesitant because that would mean putting them on the team ahead of the people that worked so hard the normal way. We did that once with Yukari. This is ten people," said Kay.

"They're fun," said a member of one of the Training Companies. "Besides, we're all on the same team. It'll be nice to know they'll be on our side when we finally reach the main team."

"It's good to know we're really not so bad we'd lose to a bunch of total newbies," added a second. "And you're right we don't have much practice against tanks other than Shermans. I say bring them in."

There was a chorus of agreement, largely driven by the Training Companies.

"Any objections?" said Naomi.

The room was quiet.

"We'll let the movie club girls know in the morning. The volleyball players don't know whether or not they're going to help yet. That's another mistake I've made, they're sore with me," said Kay.

"A lot of us are still sore because of them," said a member of one of the Training Companies. "They kicked all of our hides at volleyball yesterday."

"Tankery is a physically demanding sport," Naomi reminded the group. "I suspect it might be good for most of us to get a little more exercise."

"So where do we go from here?" came the voice of one of the veteran tankers. "We're out of the tournament, and from what you said, the Ministry may be taking over the team or something if Kuromorimine wins again. What can we do?"

"I, Oddball, and Arisa will be helping Pravda to give them as much of a chance as possible," said Kay. "I know it's very unusual to help another team, so I can't ask you all to help."

"Kay, you're our team leader," another veteran spoke from the crowd, "you've made mistakes, sure, but stop feeling sorry for yourself. What matters is that we keep moving forward."

"All of us here," said the head of the Transport Section, "are here because we find Tankery fun. That's the Saunders way. If the Ministry thinks they can change that, they'll have to get through us first."

"For us to do anything, we'll need to get some of the tanks fixed. Given all the damage, Kay, what should our priority be?" the head of the Maintenance Section asked Kay.

"If we're going down, let's go down fighting," suggested one of the veteran tankers. "Let's pull the biggest tanks we have out."

"Don't forget the movie club and the volleyball team," said one of the Training Company members. "Is there anything we can get them better than a Stuart and a Lee?"

Kay looked around as the team began eagerly working on preparing for the uncertain future.

* * *

"… and that," said Hana, "is the story of Ōarai's Sensha-Do team."

The St. Gloriana formal dining hall reserved for the Sensha-Do team's meeting was quickly filled with polite applause.

From the podium, Hana looked over the crowded hall. Even after her months at St. Gloriana, she still wasn't quite used to the formal Western dining etiquette that the school had adopted, at least for its elite, but her own formal Japanese upbringing gave her enough poise to fake it well enough to pass. Today, though, she need not have bothered. Scattered among the tables, she could see the occasional pair of chopsticks and soft drink hidden amongst the formal silverware and teacups.

Not that she was entirely beyond taking advantage of the relaxed formality on this special occasion. The English teapot closest to her seat held Japanese green tea. She could see Yuzu pouring a cup even now, and had spotted a few of the other students pouring a cup from it even when a regular teapot was closer.

Normally, the official announcement that two of its members had been elevated to the school elite known as the "Tea Garden" would have been a strictly formal occasion. This time, Darjeeling had made the decision to throw that particular tradition out the window.

The alumni had expressed their displeasure, and had been politely told that there was a time for tradition, and this time, tradition could go hang. The St. Gloriana Sensha-Do team looked after its own.

She looked down the tables at the four members of the Auto Club. They had, at least, managed to find clean uniforms, though with them it was likely that they were clean because they were never worn. They were also, at least, attempting to follow the rules of etiquette. Still, Darjeeling had made it clear that had they shown up in their overalls, covered in grease, they would still be seated.

The applause finally died down, and she stepped aside as Darjeeling joined her at the podium.

"Thank you, Sencha," said Darjeeling, using Hana's new Tea Garden nomme-de-guerre given the formal circumstances.

She turned to the audience. "Before we serve the main course, does anyone have any questions? I know this is a lot to take in."

One of the girls raised a hand, and Darjeeling nodded to indicate that she should speak.

"How much of a problem is this Ministry thing?" asked the girl. "I mean, we've had to change our traditions as it is…"

Another girl that Hana recognized as Rukuriri, one of the senior infantry tank commanders, cut her off. "We've chosen to adapt our traditions to the changing times. Yes, Rosehip and Sencha do not meet the alumni's ideal image of what is proper. But we chose to take them, and they've worked to fit in. But having some outsider force their ways on us is something we cannot accept."

"Rukuriri, please, let her finish," said Darjeeling.

"I mean, you have a point, but we don't even know if this is real, yet," the girl concluded uneasily.

"You're right, this all may be for nothing," said Darjeeling, "but have you heard this saying: 'Before anything else, preparation is the key to success'. We don't know, yet, but when I ran our theory by the alumni, without providing the unusual source behind the theory, several have said they've heard similar rumors."

Orange Pekoe raised her hand, somewhat timidly.

"Yes, Pekoe?" said Darjeeling.

"I think a more relevant saying to our current situation is 'Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse'," the smaller girl said. "We are innovating, and should continue to do so regardless of what the Ministry ends up doing. Conforming to somebody else's way of doing things, regardless of who or why, is the opposite of innovation and will destroy our traditions as well. St. Gloriana, our school, needs both tradition and innovation. However, ultimately, we must not forget that in the end, it is our school."

The room broke into spontaneous applause. Hana was both heartened and surprised to see both the traditionalists and the newcomers united in support.

Darjeeling looked stunned, briefly, before recovering. "Well said. Now, it looks like we've held dinner for long enough."

* * *

"Attention!" Nonna called the assembled Pravda Sensha-Do team to order.

The girls lined up in front of the reviewing stand quickly came to order, driven by the more disciplined members prodding the stragglers.

From her place on the stand, flanked by Klara and Anzu, with Katyusha and Sodoko behind them, Nonna could see that even Mako in the back was standing at something approaching attention. Almost. And that may have partly been Gomoyo propping her up. Still, for her, that was respectful.

"Our officers and school are proud of the glorious victory you achieved for Pravda against Saunders. You all went above and beyond the call of duty. I could not ask for a finer team," declared Nonna, causing the assembled tankers to start to cheer.

Before the crowd could get too happy, Nonna cleared her throat to silence them. "However, with the challenge still ahead of us, we cannot afford to be lax in discipline. As we have less than two weeks before the National Sensha-Do Tournament final against Kuromorimine, we will be working hard to prepare. Training rosters will be distributed after the assembly."

There were groans from the audience, though they were quickly silenced by Sodoko, who had stepped forward and glared at the more vocal objectors. Duty accomplished, the Discipline Committee member stepped back.

"Now our esteemed Cha…. Comrade Anzu would like to say a few words," said Nonna, gesturing to the Student Council Chairman. In truth, Nonna actually found the girl easy to work with. Since the meeting after the Saunders match, she'd always been careful to defer to Nonna's authority when it came to Sensha-Do. She even showed up to practice early in the morning without complaint. Then again, according to Sodoko, she didn't actually do much in the tank, and it wasn't like they could really practice much until Mako showed up, and Nonna had been careful to stick to the letter of her agreement with that one.

In some ways, it had helped that the two Pravda leaders had such different personalities. Anzu could be the reasonable, nice and friendly negotiator, backed by the stern, uncompromising threat of having to deal with Nonna and the Discipline Committee if you didn't agree to her suggested compromise.

Then again, there were times that having a relaxed, lazy leader had its downsides…

"Yo!" said the Chairman, waving to the crowd. "Thanks for coming out, everyone! The Student Council and entire student body are proud of what you have accomplished. I've gotten the Agricultural Committee to dig in and provide some extra treats for everyone."

She gestured to a pile of bags of dried sweet potatoes set on a table off to the side.

"As Nonna has said, we've got one big push left. We'll be working hard, and will all have to make some sacrifices. Also, we'll be having visitors from some of the other schools here to help, so treat them well," Anzu continued.

A girl in the crowd raised her hand. Nonna and Sodoko quickly glared at her, but before the hand went completely down, Anzu spotted it.

"Yes, Nina?" called Anzu.

"Akiyama Yukari will be among the girls visiting us, right? Will we be able to get her autograph?" said Nina.

A number of the girls in the audience brightened at the prospects of meeting the legendary spy.

Nonna nearly facepalmed, until she realized Klara was fighting down a smile. Nonna nudged her friend forward.

"Yes, Nina, we will be having a lot of important Sensha-Do players here," said Klara. "We will try to make time for autographs from all of them. And pictures." She grinned.

"Speaking of Yukari," said Anzu, "there's a secret behind her. Let me tell you all about Yukari and a school called Ōarai…"

* * *

"Oh, my head…" moaned Anchovy, as she stumbled into the lounge of the Anzio Sensha-Do Team.

"Buona Sera, Duce!" said Caesar, from the kitchen area.

Anchovy was about to correct the girl, but remembered that Caesar's Italian was much better than her own.

"What time is it?" she managed to stammer.

The festivities after the match had gone on for longer than expected. Then there had been the matter of getting everyone back home. Using the Saunders jet had helped, but her sleep schedule had been completely demolished. Looking around, most of the team members in the lounge around her were in a similar state, either asleep or half asleep.

She replayed the events since she had woken up. There were a number of things that she didn't remember that seemed rather important that she determine the state of. One thing, finally, made it through her brain.

"Wait… didn't we all decide to keep the History Club from cooking anything in the club kitchen?" Assisting Saunders in fouling Pravda as a prank was one thing, fouling their own club area was another.

She lurched over to the kitchen area, to find the four History Club girls standing around Pepperoni and Saori.

"What's going on here?" Anchovy demanded.

"We decided to teach them to cook," Saori explained. "We're starting with the basics."

"The problem is they can cook, they just shouldn't all cook together," Pepperoni added.

"What happened to your hair?" Saemonza gestured to Anchovy's head.

Anchovy felt her head, trying to figure out what was wrong. It took her a long moment to realize that she had just stumbled out of bed and over to the club lounge without taking the time to do her hair up into its usual twin drill tails.

"Dammit… where's Carpaccio?" Anchovy groaned. "Carpaccio!"

"Yes, Anch…" said the girl, emerging from the commander's office, Momo in tow. She stopped in surprise and smiled at her commander's helplessness. Rummaging in a nearby desk, she found a comb and began to restore Anchovy's hairdo.

"While you're here, Duce, I have the preliminary report from our Pravda expedition. You'll be glad to…" began Momo, but Anchovy's dismissive wave cut her off.

"Did we make money?" Anchovy asked.

"Yes, quite a lot," said Momo.

"Good," said Anchovy. She thought for a second. "Momo, you're much better at running the team than I am. You've got a cape… I left mine in my room. You be the Duce." Anchovy giggled. "All hail Duce Momochovy!"

Just about everyone in the room stopped and stared at her, startled by the outburst.

"But… but… you can't!" said Momochovy. "I don't know anything about running a team!"

"You were a big cheese at Ōarai! You can do anything!" Anchovy yelled back.

"What's this Ōarai thing again?" said one of the girls.

"You know, the whole 'alternate lifetime' thing!" said Anchovy. "We've gone over this already! Oryou, you're good at long explanations of historic stuff. Once we get this Duce thing straightened out, go over it again."

"I don't know anything about leading a team," said Momochovy. "Everyone obeys me when I do the business stuff because I work for you! Nobody wants to follow me!"

Pepperoni stepped over to Anchovy. "Without you, who would we get to wait tables?"

"Without you, who would recruit people to join?" Erwin added. The other History Club members nodded in agreement.

"Without you, Anchovy, where would Anzio be?" said Carpaccio, kindly, as she finished Anchovy's hairdo. "Nowhere. You're the heart of this team."

Anchovy looked around. The disruption had woken most of the girls. "Do… do you really think so?"

Saori walked over. "Do you know why I'm sticking with Sensha-Do? Because unlike those idiots in the fashion club, you and the team made me feel important and appreciated, back when we were chasing Yukari. Who was it that took command?"

"Duce," said one of the girls.

"When we faced off in noble battle against Saunders, who led the charge?" said Saemonza.

"Duce!" said most of the girls, louder.

"Who managed to get us recognized as a great power alongside Saunders, St. Gloriana and Pravda?" said Oryou.

"Duce!" cried the room.

"Who stood up for me against Pravda's Chairman?" said Momo.

There was some murmuring about not remembering the event in question.

"It was Duce!" said Momo.

"Duce! Duce! Duce!" came the cries.

Anchovy stood up. "I… I didn't know you all felt that way," she said.

"We wouldn't be here if we didn't," said Carpaccio as she finished Anchovy's hair. "We're here because you brought us together."

She gestured to Momo, who unclipped her cape and handed it over. Carpaccio fastened the cape around Anchovy's neck.

Anzai Chiyomi, also known as Anchovy, feeling boosted by the display of support, stood up, yet it was Duce Anchovy that addressed the room. "Thank you, all, for telling me how you really feel. Thanks to all we've been through, all we've done, we've proven that Anzio is not just grace and diligence but also strength. As your Duce, I could find no finer girls to share that triumph. Now, let us go out and make sure that all know that Anzio is a school to be respected!" she roared.

"Viva Anzio! Viva Duce! Viva Anchovy!" came the happy shout.

"Now, has anyone seen my contact lens case?" said Anchovy. "These glasses don't feel right."

* * *

Next: Always Advancing Part XXXV: Mission to Pravda

Author's Notes: It didn't seem to be in character for Mako to be the one reminiscing about Oarai. I also got a lot of mileage out of subverting Anchovy's usual appearance.


	35. Mission to Pravda

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXXV: Mission to Pravda

by Civilis

* * *

"Whose idea was this?" chorused Kay, Yukari, and Arisa as the Saunders C-5, flown by one of the Transport Section pilots, prepared to land on Pravda's deck.

"Is this some sort of joke I don't get?" said Darjeeling from one of the passenger seats.

"Probably some Saunders prank," said Anchovy, sitting across from her.

"Do we have everything, Secret Agent Akiyama?" Kay asked Yukari.

"One Anzio Truck, Food, check. One Anzio Truck, Cargo, check. One St. Gloriana Truck, Cargo, check. One Saunders Jeep, Generic, check…" Yukari counted off on her fingers.

"Why did you bring the extra truck, Anchovy?" asked Assam.

"You'll see. We came up with something which might help," said Anchovy.

Meanwhile, Yukari continued, "One Anzio Command and Logistics (Food) Team, consisting of Anchovy, Momo, Carpaccio, Pepperoni, Saori, and Erwin, with bags. Erwin, are you going to be okay without your friends?"

"Ja," said Erwin. "They're working on things back at Anzio. Since I have the most experience with Panzer tactics, they thought I should come along."

"Thanks for coming to help!" said Yukari. "Ok, we also have One St. Gloriana Command and Maintenance Team, consisting of Darjeeling, Pekoe, Assam, Yuzu, Satoko, Tsuchiya, Suzuki and Hoshino, with bags."

"Why did you come along, Darjeeling?" asked Kay. "I thought you were just sending Assam and Yuzu and the mechanical experts."

"I've had a revelation recently, thanks to Pekoe, here," said Darjeeling. "Being in command means being willing to take a fresh look at what goes on around you."

"And we have one Saunders Command and Intelligence Section, plus Transport Team, with bags," Yukari finished.

"What are you reading this time?" asked Arisa.

"I'm reading Kursk: Hitler's Gamble. Figured that might be a good inspiration for looking at the upcoming battle. I also brought a lot of books on German and Soviet tanks." Yukari pointed to a second bag alongside her familiar backpack.

With a heavy thump, the massive plane set down on the Pravda deck, then quickly breaked to a stop.

The Saunders aircraft crew, with help from the St. Gloriana mechanics, got to work unsecuring the trucks.

Kay lowered the plane's ramp to see the Pravda command team already waiting. They'd even thrown together an honor guard for their visitors.

"Hey, Nonna! Hey Klara!" called Kay. "Thanks for the warm welcome!"

Nonna walked over to the group, Klara and Pazomi in tow. "Kay, I didn't know you would be coming. Darjeeling and Pekoe either."

"Somebody needs to keep an eye on Arisa and Yukari. We can't have them causing trouble, now, can we?" Kay laughed.

Nonna, impassive as ever, looked over the trucks. Spying the feared red SPQR food truck, and the familiar fox-haired Anzio history buff nearby, she narrowed her eyes. "I thought you wouldn't resort to dirty tricks…"

"Relax," said Anchovy. "Saori and Pepperoni will be cooking. The truck is just as good as any other. Erwin is here to help Yukari and Arisa with the intelligence side." She was careful not to mention the near riot that had broken out when the Sensha-Do team had tried to use the truck at Anzio, and that at Pravda they could use it because there were no other alternatives.

"And the other truck? The food you requested was delivered by Sunkus Supply Ship this morning," said Klara as she gestured to the olive drab supply truck.

"I had our Art Club put together a relief map of the JGSDF's Fuji Training area. We packed it in with some of our camo netting as protection during the flight," Anchovy explained.

"That was very thoughtful," said Nonna, impressed.

"We can loan you the netting," Momo interjected, always thinking of the budget.

"Darjeeling, will you be joining the intelligence team or will you be working with the Chairman on the political end?" asked Nonna.

"Neither, Pekoe and I will be with our mechanics," said Darjeeling, gesturing to the four who were taking the opportunity to study one of the massive Saunders jet's engines. "Though Assam or Yuzu can relay things to me if need arises."

Nonna turned to the Discipline Committee member at her side. "Nozomi, please make sure rooms are ready for our extra guests."

She turned to the group. "Pravda welcomes you and your assistance."

* * *

The next morning, after a hearty but relatively tasteless Pravda breakfast, Kay wandered over to the Sensha-Do garage where the tanks were being tuned up before the final match. The Discipline Committee member at the gate checked her Saunders student ID before calling over a Pravda tanker to escort her inside.

At the garage, she caught sight of the four overalled St. Gloriana auto club mechanics standing around the T-34/57 with their Pravda counterparts. From what she could see, two of them were bent over the engine, one apparently pointing something out to the other mechanics.

Nearby, on a folding chair, Pekoe sat watching. Next to her was a folding table, with an English teapot, a Russian teapot, a pot of coffee and a stack of styrofoam cups.

"Where's Darjeeling?" asked Kay.

Pekoe pointed to the tank.

As the mechanics shifted around to get a better view of the tank's innards, Kay caught sight of a head of perfectly maintained blonde hair amongst the mechanics on one of the girls bent over the engine.

"She has determined that it's her duty as commander to have a better understanding of what the other sections have to go through to keep our Sensha-Do team operational," explained Pekoe. "I would be in there as well, but it's crowded enough as it is. And she only brought one extra pair of overalls."

Suzuki, one of the St. Gloriana auto club members, walked into the garage carrying a stack of cans, one of the Pravda mechanics beside her with another. "We got the extra oil!" she called, and they set the cans down nearby.

"Hi Kay!" she called, walking over to the table, where she poured a cup of Russian tea for the Pravda mechanic, then a cup of coffee for herself.

"I think that's the first time I've seen Darjeeling getting dirty," said Kay.

"She did manage to spill her tea all over herself when she got knocked out at the match at Ōarai," said Pekoe. "We thought you missed twice, not that you were clearing a line of fire for Arisa. The red uniform does a good job of hiding tea stains, fortunately. Still, it's a rare occasion for her."

"Yeah, for the past week, she's been working hard. I think she's rebelling against the alumni, only, you know, in a very polite and proper fashion," added Suzuki.

"I suspect that it's having a good effect on you. I've seen you four in the school uniform three times in the past week," said Pekoe, looking at the mechanic. "Even if Hoshino doesn't wear her sweater."

"I think that's because, thanks to you, we now think of St. Gloriana as our school," Suzuki replied.

For reasons unknown to Kay, Pekoe could only blush.

* * *

"So, have there been any problems with our guests so far, Midoriko?" asked Nonna, as the Pravda command group stood in line for lunch.

"About the only thing I've heard anyone complain about is the insistence that the Intelligence Team eat in the planning room," said Sodoko. "Other than that, they've been well behaved."

"I think that's Katyusha's fault, actually," said Gomoyo, from behind her Discipline Committee superior. "And she's been insistent about maintaining secrecy."

"The Chairman and her team also eat by themselves," added Pazomi.

"Well, that is the Chairman's prerogative," said Klara. "Besides, nobody is willing to call her out on it."

"It's also the first private time she's had with her friends. You'll notice Assam eats with Darjeeling and the mechanics," said Nonna, before switching to Russian. "[I'm surprised you're sticking with us, Klara. You have a perfect excuse to fangirl any number of Sensha-Do figures from the other schools or just eat with Katyusha.]"

"[You're restraining yourself, so I have to do the same. We did get them to agree to a photo session for PR purposes, and to sign a few autographs,]" said Klara, smiling as she looked forward to the opportunity.

Nonna felt a tug at her sleeve. "Yes, Nozomi?"

"It looks like one of the regular students is trying to sneak into the lunch line," she said, pointing to a Discipline Committee girl trying to get in close to the food truck.

"Good catch," said Nonna, complementing Pazomi. "Klara will hold our spot while we go address this. Since you're a fellow Discipline Committee member, you take the lead. I will be behind you."

The pair walked over to confront the interloper. Since Nonna had taken the quiet Discipline Committee volunteer as her personal loader, she had found the girl to be an effective assistant, and more willing to speak up when not directly overshadowed by her senior, Sodoko. With a little push, Nonna felt she could easily stand better on her own, and had felt the same with Gomoyo, which was why she had sent the three volunteers to help crew different tanks.

"You!" said Pazomi, calling to the intruder.

"Yeah? I'm here on Discipline Committee business," said the girl.

"Oh?" asked Pazomi. "What business? Who's your superior?"

"That's none of your business," said the girl.

"Let's see what the Student Council has to say about that. Nonna?" said Pazomi.

"Yes, Nozomi?" said Nonna, seemingly materializing behind the intruder, looking down at her. "Is there a problem?"

The girl turned white at Nonna's icy, emotionless stare.

"Since this girl has a problem which is beyond us, let's see if she can explain it to the Student Council," said Pazomi.

The girl quickly turned and dashed off.

"I'll follow up with the Discipline Committee after lunch," said Pazomi. "I don't want to lose our place."

As Pazomi walked back to the line, Nonna gave one of her rare, genuine smiles behind the girl's back.

* * *

"Look at them go!" said Pepperoni, watching Yukari pose for photographs.

Saori looked across the Pravda dining hall that the Sensha-Do team had commandeered for their members and guests. The decision had been made early on to just deploy the food truck for lunch at the Sensha-Do garage, and use a conventional dining hall for breakfast and dinner.

"What do they have her in this time?" Saori asked, bending back over to resume scrubbing one of the pots they'd used to cook dinner. The Pravda girls had offered to do the dishes for them, but Saori and Pepperoni had insisted on helping.

"It looks like they borrowed one of the St. Gloriana girls' uniforms, and they're having her pose with Sodoko and their Discipline Committee girls," Pepperoni replied. They'd started with the required photos of the team commanders shaking hands and smiling, then filled in publicity shots of various groupings of people, such as the mechanics and the Chairman and her old friends.

And then someone had had the brilliant idea to get the two legendary Saunders spies to pose for the camera. Arisa had quickly vanished at that point, but Yukari had been all for it. Somebody had even found a Pravda uniform roughly in her size, and she'd cheerfully posed for pictures with most of the Pravda girls. Klara, for some reason, had been especially happy to take pictures with her prisoner.

Saori looked around the kitchen area. Most of the Pravda students that were supposed to be helping her clean were at the door, watching the photo session.

"Hey! There will be time for photos later!" called Saori.

One of the girls pointed to a stack of plates covered with the remains of Anzio's improvised goulash. "But… but… there's so many!"

"We need to get this done. Yukari will be around for several more days. We'll make sure you get photos another day," Saori explained to the girls.

Reluctantly, they turned and began returning to their clean-up duties.

"You really think Yukari will still be up for photos?" asked Pepperoni.

"I know Yukari," said Saori, "she's a hard worker. I'm sure she'll be able to fit in some photo time for you as well, Pepperoni."

"You're a hard worker too, Saori," said Pepperoni. "I know you weren't happy at the Fashion Club because they kept you working for them, and here you come and join us and you spend all your time cooking with us."

"That's because I'm cooking with you, not just for you," said Saori. "You've been cooking just as much as I have. I've learned a lot from you. Same with everyone else. One day, I'll find the right man, and then I can cook for him, but until then, cooking with someone is better."

"I didn't think about it that way," said Pepperoni thoughtfully, "but there are a lot of girls behind the scenes doing things. It's kind of like you and your radio. When we were facing off against Saunders, it was you relaying messages from Anchovy and keeping us all moving together. We never think about how important that voice on the radio is."

They were interrupted by a Pravda Discipline Committee runner. "Have you seen Nonna or the Chairman? We've captured a Saunders spy!" said the girl, out of breath.

"Poor Arisa," said Saori, with feigned sympathy. "Serves her right to get captured the one time she isn't spying."

* * *

"Come on, somebody could have bailed me out!" complained Arisa, the next day in the makeshift planning room.

"That's what you get for sneaking off from the photos," Yukari replied cheerfully, as she stooped to look over the counters on the planning map.

They had entered the planning room on the first day at Pravda to find some girls from the crafts department cutting down the legs on a couple of cheap desks that were going to serve as the basis for the planning map. She had thought the desks were a little low at the time, especially after the four map pieces were put in place, but that's because she had forgotten who Pravda's chief tactician was.

A box of toy tanks, ludicrously oversized for the map, had been placed on a side table, and a small hand had begun placing toy T-34s on the map.

"Katyusha doesn't have a lot of the German tanks," Katyusha had said, "so we'll have to make do."

Fortunately, Erwin had gone through her wargame collection, and had produced a box of counters from her bag, each neatly labeled with a German or Soviet tank model. Soon, the group had been going over possible scenarios in two separate categories, either meet Kuromorimine head on right away or make a break for favorable ground, either the hill or the city, both of which were spots Oarai had used for defense in the other timeline. Katyusha would lay out the Pravda forces, and Erwin would suggest a likely Kuromorimine response.

The problem was that, with the slow IS-2 and KV-2, Pravda had little chance to reach either the city or the hill, unlike Ōarai, meaning they would be hit from the flank on the move. Even the more nimble Ōarai team had been hit hard early in the other timeline. Given that, almost all the plans had concentrated on the corner of the map where the battle would start. They had pulled that corner section away from the others to make it easier to reach.

Looking over the map now, the Anzio artists had done a good job. She could clearly make out the details of the JGSDF training area that served as the traditional final match location for the National High School Sensha-Do Tournament.

"You really don't think they'll use it?" said Arisa, gesturing to the hastily handmade counter sitting on the map quadrant with the city. Erwin's wargames hadn't thought to include a counter for the Maus.

Yukari's revelation that Kuromorimine could field that behemoth had startled all three of the other planners, but Katyusha had recovered quickly.

"If they do, then we'll actually be at an advantage," said Katyusha. "As I said the other day, the Maus is too heavy to use anywhere but the city without a serious risk of it bogging down, and it's really too slow to keep up with their wedge. We'd have plenty of time to get away."

"Why wouldn't they just use it as a flag tank?" asked Arisa, ever the munchkin.

"You would," said Erwin, "but Kuromorimine's pride won't let them use anything but one of their Tigers."

"What else can we do to give ourselves an edge?" asked Yukari. "Can we use those camo nets for anything?"

"There are nowhere near enough of them," said Arisa. "You could cover one or two tanks, perhaps the long range gunners like the SU-100. Still, they were made for the terrain outside Nagasaki, so they won't be as effective here."

"We've played with smoke screens, and the dust screen in the Anzio vs Saunders match worked well," said Katyusha. "Is there something we can do with that?"

"Let's look at this from the basics," said Erwin. "Kuromorimine's going to form a wedge, with the Elefant and Jagdtiger at the front." She laid out the counters. "They'll send the wedge through the woods at the start area, and won't stop unless they see your forces running away or see the flag tank."

"But they will steer towards the flag tank," said Katyusha. "If we turn the wedge at the right moment, they'll open a gap, and we can try to get a tank, like the Akula, through the gap."

"The Akula?" asked Yukari.

"That's Nonna and Anzu's nickname for Mako and the T-34/57. It's like a shark, sneaking around then popping up and eating things," said Katyusha.

"One tank isn't going to do it. After St. Gloriana, they'll have Maho's Tiger and at least another Panther or two covering Miho," said Erwin, pointing to the counters. "You'd need more than that."

"Even with smoke?" asked Arisa, always a fan of trick plays.

"The lead tank isn't protected if you're advancing with smoke. If it gets knocked out, and Kuromorimine's gunners will likely hit it, then it's all over," said Yukari.

"You'd need a lot of tanks to get some through the Kuromorimine line." Erwin mimed a holding a teacup. "Have you heard this saying? 'Quantity has a quality all its own'."

"How about this?" asked Katyusha, pushing the Soviet counters representing Pravda around. "I call it operation Nonna, 'cause it's big like the Russian Steppes."

Arisa whistled. "That… that might work."

Erwin grinned. " 'Audacity, audacity, always audacity', said Patton."

Yukari looked at the smaller girl and smiled. "One thing I like about you, Katyusha, you always think big."

* * *

Next: Always Advancing Part XXXVI: The Big Game

Author's Notes: Thanks for your patience; it's not been easy to maintain a semi-regular posting schedule and finish up the last chapters of the story.


	36. The Big Game

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXXVI: The Big Game

by Civilis

* * *

"Naomi!" called Kay, seeing her friend in the stands at the JGSDF's Fuji Training Grounds. "I see you brought everyone."

It wasn't hard for Yukari, following her commander, to pick out the Saunders contingent in the stands. The clump of light gray coats stuck out among the nearly empty stands dotted with the occasional tank fan. Part of the reason the stands were empty was that both Kuromorimine and Pravda were from the far ends of Japan. While both Pravda and Kuromorimine had docked nearby in Yokohama, it was a long journey for any parents to come all the way to Tokyo.

"Yep!" said Naomi. "We had a lot of people that wanted to come along."

Karina ran down to the group. "We got to ride in a big huge plane and it was so awesome."

"I see you guys brought some toys," Kay said to Azusa, who had come down to retrieve her overly-excited first year friend.

"Yeah, the Movie Club wanted footage of the match, so they gave us some cameras," said Azusa.

Yuuki and Aya waved as they filmed the group.

Another Saunders girl walked down to Kay, sheepishly. It took a second for Yukari to recognize Noriko and her volleyball friends wearing anything other than their sports uniforms. She had only seen the girls briefly since Kay had informed her they'd been found at Saunders.

"Kay, I'm sorry about what I said to you the other day," Noriko said.

"So, given it any more thought?" asked Kay.

"You mean to joining the team?" Noriko responded, puzzled. "Didn't Naomi tell you? She managed to persuade us to sign up."

"How'd she pull that off?" asked Kay, happily.

* * *

Noriko and her teammates had stopped by the Tankery Team offices to talk to Kay again. The four volleyball players were still debating among themselves whether or not they could do both volleyball and Tankery.

"Looking for Kay?" Naomi had said. "She just flew out this morning to Pravda."

"Why are you holding a volleyball?" Shinobu had asked.

"I've noticed that a lot of the girls could use a little more exercise. Seeing that volleyball seems to have given you good hand-eye coordination, and we already had the net, I figured it was a good starting place," Naomi explained, as she casually threw the ball up and caught it again.

"This I have to see. Your trainees weren't very good," said Noriko.

The group had wandered behind the garages to where a couple of nets had been set up, and a handful of tankers in shorts and t-shirts were knocking volleyballs around.

"Better," said Noriko, critically, "but still needs some work."

Naomi gestured to the net. "Since you came all the way out here for nothing, care for a quick match, two on two? I'm a little out of practice myself."

"Why not?" Noriko answered. "Akebi?" The blonde jogged over.

Naomi took off her tanker's jacket, and called over one of her crew.

A few minutes later, all the tankers had gathered around to watch the ongoing battle.

"They're not bad," Taeko admitted, watching from the sides. "Almost up to club standards."

"Naomi usually hits the beach during the summer with a couple of friends, and has been known to hustle a little," another of Naomi's crew on the sidelines informed her.

Norkio paused where she had been about to serve. "I'm surprised you didn't try to put some kind of a wager on the match."

Naomi grinned. "You're still winning. Now serve."

The match ended in a narrow victory for the Volleyball Team girls.

After the match had ended, Noriko had thanked Naomi and her partner. "That was fun. You're almost certainly good enough to make the team. Why don't you try out?"

"I like the challenge of Tankery better," Naomi had replied. "Hand-eye coordination and control are important to both Tankery and volleyball, so it's a good way for me to use my skills to make some spending money while I'm enjoying the sights on the beach."

Noriko grabbed the other three volleyball players and pulled them aside for a brief huddle. A couple of minutes later, she returned, her teammates behind her.

"All right, your pitch worked," she had said. "While we're on the bench, we'll help practice our skills by helping you guys, both on the field and with your volleyball skills."

Naomi did nothing more than whistle as innocently as she could.

* * *

"Welcome aboard," said Kay, extending her hand to Noriko, who shook it. "I'm sorry about tricking you guys earlier. We'll do all we can to accommodate the volleyball team."

"It shouldn't be a problem, it sounds like the Tankery season may be over anyways," said Noriko.

"There's always practice matches," Kay replied.

"Yukari! Kay!" came Hana's call.

Yukari turned to see the tall Ikebana expert approaching alongside Rosehip.

"Hey, you two. Darjeeling and the rest that were at Pravda should be over by the Pravda garages for final checkups of the tanks," said Yukari. "Are you all that came from St. Gloriana? Since it's so close to your home prefecture, I'd have figured that more would come."

"I think many believe this will be a short match," Hana replied. "Then again, it may be that once they heard Rosehip would be driving the truck, they decided to pass. It was certainly an… interesting trip. Is that the freshmen and the volleyball team members? They look so different in the Saunders uniform." She waved at them.

"I think that when the rest of the History Club gets here from Anzio we'll have all 29 known Ōarai Sensha-Do team members here," Yukari replied happily, "even if one doesn't know it."

"I think they're already here," said Hana. "I saw them over with Anchovy at the food truck. I was surprised they were able to get permission to set up at this late date."

"Anchovy and Momo can be persuasive, especially when they sense money," Yukari replied. "Besides, it's only the one truck they had at Pravda."

Rosehip, meanwhile, had sat down in the stands, where she was describing St. Gloriana's charge in exciting detail to the fascinated Movie Club freshmen.

"So did you guys come up with a plan?" asked Hana.

"Katyusha did," said Yukari.

"We did help," added Arisa, who had been standing nearby. "This is likely to be an interesting match, if short. It's a gamble, but probably the best bet they have, given the odds. Speaking of which, it looks like they're on their way to say hi. Looks like they're taking their time, though."

"While we're waiting, I see someone else I recognize," said Yukari, pointing to a girl in casual clothes with long black hair that was looking over the stands for a decent place to sit. "Hey, Kinuyo!" she yelled and waved at the girl.

The girl looked around before catching sight of Yukari waving at her, then ran up into the stands to the group with a puzzled look on her face. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"I don't know if you've met Yukari yet," said Kay, "but we met briefly at the Tournament Opening Ceremony when we drew our positions in the brackets." Kay turned to the group. "Everyone, this is Nishi Kinuyo, commander of Chi-Ha-Tan's Sensha-Do team."

"Kay, right?" said Nishi. "I get the blonde commanders confused."

"Since Darjeeling's around somewhere, we'll give you some practice," Kay said. "You here by yourself?"

"Everyone else stayed behind to study," Nishi replied. "I took the train in this morning."

"Please, sit with us," said Kay. "I'll introduce everyone…"

* * *

"I think I see them over there," said Anzu, pointing down the stands to where the gray-clad Saunders group was sitting.

"Let's at least thank them, then," said Nonna, and the group continued down the stands.

"Mako!" came a voice from the stands.

"Grandma!" said Mako. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to check up on you. The school was kind enough to offer me a ride," the old woman said. "I still can't believe a lazy girl like you is doing Sensha-Do."

Nonna walked up to the woman. "Your daughter is a hard worker and one of the stars of our team. We know how important you are to her, so we provided assistance." She snuck a glance at Anzu, who had actually been the one to arrange for the ride for Mako's grandmother.

"Hmph," the woman grunted, though she smiled as well. "I'll believe that when I see it. Still, good luck out there."

"[Wow,]" said Klara, as the group resumed its march. "[I can see where she gets her stubbornness. Reminds me of my own…]"

She stopped, a surprised look on her face as she spotted someone in the crowd. "[Father!]" she said, "[What are you doing here?]"

A smiling foreigner in an expensive windbreaker with neatly trimmed blonde hair just going gray at the temples approached the group, smiling. Behind him trailed an unhappy looking Japanese bureaucrat in a suit.

"[Of course they'll let me in to watch my daughter in the National Championship,]" the foreigner replied in Russian. "[Are these your teammates?]"

"[Yes, this is Nonna, our Commander,]" she gestured to the girl, who bowed, "[Anzu, our school chairman,]" who likewise bowed, "[And some of our other team members.]"

"[It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. Your daughter is an asset to our team,]" said Nonna.

"[Thank you for looking after my daughter. Is the little one Katyusha? She is as cute as you described.]" He patted the girl's helmet.

Katyusha glared at him. "What did he say?" she asked.

"He said he was pleased to see such a smart tactician in such a small package," Nonna 'translated'.

"Tell your father his shoelace is untied," said Mako from the back of the group. Before either of the Russian speakers could translate, the man looked down at his shoes, then back up and smiled. Behind him, the bureaucrat raised an eyebrow and smiled briefly himself.

"Ah, my Japanese isn't so good, so I usually stick to Russian," he said in nearly perfect Japanese.

Anzu stuck out her hand. "Your Japanese is fine. I'm Kadotani Anzu, Student Council Chairman for Pravda. I just wanted to know how pleased we are to get such a fine exchange student. She is an excellent student for our school and team, and a fine representative of your country."

Klara's father shook Anzu's hand. "Thank you. Good luck with your match." He turned to his daughter. "[I'll catch up with you afterwards, honey. Go get those Germans.]"

The Russian and his minder headed back into the stands.

"Let me guess, your father is in the Russian Ministry of Defense?" asked Anzu, as the group resumed its march.

Klara just smiled enigmatically.

"Anzu! Nonna! About time you showed up!" called Kay. "We've found a friend," she said, gesturing to the Chi-Ha-Tan commander.

Nishi bowed to the Pravda commander. "Thank you again for the excellent match first round. Congratulations to you for your glorious victory over Saunders."

She thought for a second, then turned to look at Kay, puzzled at why the Saunders commander was on such good terms with the school that had just beaten her.

"Thank you for showing up to support us, Nishi," said Nonna, before she turned to Kay. "Do you have any last minute ideas?"

"If we think of something in the next 15 minutes before the handshake, we'll let you know. You guys ready for this?" said Kay.

"Our morale and discipline are high," said Sodoko.

"Our crews have been fully briefed on the intelligence and our plan," added Gomoyo.

"Our tanks are ready, and the necessary equipment is prepared," finished Pazomi.

"Sounds like you're as ready as you can be," said Kay. "Good luck out there."

"Go Pravda! Beat Kuromorimine!" cheered the Movie Club freshmen, except Saki.

The rest of the group wished the Pravda commanders luck, as they headed for the staging area for the handshake.

* * *

"Those tank engines are as good as we can make them," said Satoko, rubbing the last of the grease off her hands onto her blue uniform skirt.

Nearby, Darjeeling winced, but said nothing, as the St. Gloriana team representatives joined the Saunders representatives in the stands.

Pekoe poured her commander a cup of tea from a thermos, then offered a cup to the others, who declined, before pouring herself a cup.

"It's amazing you're able to carry so much stuff in there, Pekoe," said Yukari, gesturing to the girl's overstuffed bag.

"It's a lot easier to carry a thermos and some reusable plastic cups than a teapot," said Pekoe. "It left me extra room for popcorn." She pulled out a bag, and set it down next to her.

"Wow, St. Gloriana relaxing?" said Naomi. "Never thought I would see the day."

"We're not relaxing," said Darjeeling, adopting a haughty pose, "we're adjusting to the realities of the situation. Sometimes, we can do with a little hardship for the team."

"And yet all your hair is perfect," came the voice of Anchovy, walking up to the group, some of the Anzio delegation in tow.

"We all have our priorities," said Assam. Nearby Yuzu laughed, followed by the rest of the group, even Nishi, who was rapidly ceasing to be surprised by the friendly relations between the teams.

"Admittedly, I had Carpaccio and Saori fix mine in a hurry this morning," said Anchovy.

"Duce's hair has to be perfect," Saori joked. "Hi everyone! We brought food and drinks!" She set down a basket full of Anzio sandwiches. Nearby, Caesar set down a bag of drinks and chips.

"Kay has recruited more strong allies to the cause!" said Saemonza, looking over the Saunders group.

"I have to get back to the food truck. Pepperoni, myself, and Carpaccio will be handling it during the match so the Ōarai girls can all watch," said Anchovy. "Ciao!"

Momo sat down next to Yuzu. "Where's your cape?" Yuzu asked. "You didn't have it at Pravda, but since this is public, I figured you'd be all dressed up."

"I'm leaving that off for a while," Momo quietly replied.

"Is everyone here?" Yukari asked as she mentally counted over the girls. There were the volleyball team members, the History Club, the freshmen six, and the Auto Club girls. There was Momo and Yuzu. There was herself, Saori, and Hana.

Down on the field, Mako stood with Sodoko, Gomoyo and Pazomi in the Pravda ranks. In front of them Anzu walked forward alongside Nonna for the ceremonial pre-match greeting, which, for the National High School Sensha-Do Tournament Final, had become a major ceremonial tradition.

Walking toward them, escorted by her sister, was Miho.

* * *

Next: Always Advancing XXXVII: Clash of Titans

Author's Note: I think Klara's father is the only notable OC I created besides the Kami of Tanks. Partly, I was thinking about how all of this comes together on an international level, and since Klara's the one international student we see, her father became a minor character. Ami's assigned to the high school level, and they're willing to let her use a modern tank for demo purposes. Klara's dad was supposed to be a one shot, but he turns out to fill a useful role later on. (Technically, there is one other character that might be an OC if he's not a cameo, but we're a couple of chapters out).


	37. Clash of Titans

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXXVII: Clash of Titans

by Civilis

* * *

"Captain and Vice Captain of each team, step forward!" cried the Sensha-Do Federation judge.

Nonna, Anzu, Miho and Maho stepped forward.

"I'm Chouno Ami," said the woman in the JGSDF uniform among the judges, "I'll be your referee today. Let's have a great game."

"Both teams, greet!" called the judge.

"Let's have a great game," came the call from nearly two hundred tankers, all bowing towards the opposing teams.

"Now, get to your starting positions for the match," said the judge. "We wish both teams luck."

Nonna marched forward and extended her hand to Miho. "We're looking forward to a great game."

Miho, who had appeared calm up to this point, suddenly became nervous at the break from tradition. She stepped forward, hesitantly, looking at the hand, then back, looking at her sister.

Maho nodded, slightly.

"Yes… a great… we're looking forward to a great game," Miho repeated, roboticly, as she shook Nonna's hand.

* * *

"Can I see that camera for a second, Yuuki?" asked Yukari.

The movie club girl passed it over. "Be careful. It's expensive."

Yukari set it to maximum zoom, and played it over the Kuromorimine tankers as they turned and walked over to the trucks set to take them to their start point.

"I guess Arisa's compulsive intelligence gathering habits have rubbed off on Yukari," said Yuzu.

"Looking for something?" said Assam. "I've got data on most of the Kuromorimine team." She held up her laptop.

"Not really," Yukari replied. "When we were down there at Oarai, the situation was unusual. We were outnumbered nearly three to one, for one thing. It's just different seeing it from this side." Still, there was something off about the Kuromorimine team. Nothing she could do about it now, however.

The side scoreboard screens cut to video of both teams lines in their start areas, while the center screen changed to show the high level block view and both teams lineups.

"No Maus, darn it," said Yukari, filming the screen.

"Kuromorimine has a Maus?" said Assam, incredulously, as most of the assembled students with Sensha-Do experience turned to stare.

"Yep, at least according to Yukari. And what's worse, Yukari and Katyusha were hoping they'd deploy it," added Arisa. "They're both odd."

"Even without it, it's a very dangerous lineup. Two Tigers, two Konigstigers, an Elefant, a JagdTiger, two JadgPanthers, six Panthers and six JagdPanzer IVs," said Yukari. "Up against one IS-2, one SU-100, one KV-2, eight T-34/85s, eight T-34/76s and the T-34/57."

"And Anzio's camouflage nets," said Erwin, proudly, pointing at the bundles visible on the backs of the SU-100, IS-2, KV-2 and flag T-34/76. They weren't all Anzio's, Pravda students had managed to put together a few more once the plan had been decided on, but it was an Anzio idea.

On the field, the judge had her flaregun out and was keeping an eye on her watch. The timer on the scoreboard rolled over.

"Match begin!" came the call, and the flare gun was fired.

On screen, both team's tanks began rolling forward.

"That wasn't much of an advance," said Kay. "They just headed to the first shallow ridgeline and stopped."

"I was expecting a glorious charge," added Nishi.

"Oh, just wait," said Yukari, smiling.

On the screen, the Pravda tankers could be seen setting up nets over the three heavy tanks, all parked hull down behind the ridge, as well as propping up other empty nets on the ridgeline. Yukari watched as Katyusha, Nina and Gomoyo struggled to get the net over the massive KV-2.

"They're going to do a repeat of the tactic we used against Kuromorimine? Miho will be expecting that," said Darjeeling, sipping her tea.

"Something like that," said Yukari. "Your plan did almost work. Pravda has a slightly… different approach to it though."

* * *

The commander of Kuromorimine's Elefant tank destroyer scanned ahead of the tank as it emerged from the woods. She and her senior counterpart in the JagdTiger were the point of Kuromorimine's wedge. She caught sight of several odd-looking bulges on the slight ridge to her left front, and looked at them through her binoculars.

"Commander, I see Pravda tanks on the ridge, hiding under poor camouflage," she radioed. "Approximately eight tanks."

"I also see them," radioed the JagdTiger's commander. "I also see the enemy flag tank. It just backed behind the ridge."

Miho's voice came over the radio. "Formation, adjust twenty degrees left towards the target. Right flank, watch for an encirclement attempt."

* * *

From the ridge, Nonna watched the Kuromorimine line emerge from the woods through her binoculars. "Klara, begin Operation Avalanche. Other tanks, proceed as ordered," she radioed.

While Katyusha's name for the operation was flattering, Yukari's name had seemed better, even if it was reused from the invasion of Sicily.

She dropped down into the turret to man the gun. Next to her, Pazomi readied a shell to reload.

It was time. The avalanche had arrived, the snowflakes could no longer determine their own fate.

* * *

"Lead tanks, the SU-100 is the enemy commander. Try to identify and eliminate it as soon as possible," came Miho's voice over the radio. "Continue advancing."

The tanks on the ridge began trading fire with the Kuromorimine tanks down below advancing towards them.

The commander of the Panther on the far right of Kuromorimine's line watched as a nearby JagdPanzer was tossed into the air by a massive explosion from the KV-2's 152mm howizter. Rounds from at least two other heavy cannon hit nearby. Still, most of the shapes on the ridge line appeared to be holding their fire.

"Look!" her loader cried from the hatch next to her.

The Panther's commander turned to see three T-34/76s come over the ridge further down, almost in front of her, zig-zagging wildly, trailing clouds of smoke. Moments later, she could barely make out two T-34/85s and what looked like a lone T-34/76 followed behind them, likewise trailing smoke. She looked more closely, and the smaller T-34 in the rear had a slightly different cannon than the T-34/76s in the front.

She radioed in. "…and it looks like the one in the back may be the enemy ace in the T-34/57," she said.

"Understood. Try to stop them. Main line, keep advancing," came Miho's order.

Her loader dropped in to the turret to prepare to reload. The other Panther on flank duty next to her buttoned up and prepared to engage.

The Pravda tanks fired wildly as they approached, hitting nothing. Her gunner fired, sending one of the T-34/76s in the front out of the match, but the evasive driving saved the other tanks from getting hit.

Much sooner than she expected, the Pravda tanks were on her. She watched as the two surviving T-34/76s in the lead raced past her, still trailing smoke.

"Commander, watch out, the Pravda breakthrough group has entered our lines," she radioed, as her own gunner struggled to bring the gun to bear on the Pravda tanks.

Miho's voice came on the radio, ordering the two rearguard Panthers to move up and protect her.

The other three Pravda tanks quickly followed past her. She caught a glimpse of the commander of the enemy ace tank, grinning at her as it roared past. It was almost as if the pigtailed girl was taunting her.

She turned to check the status of the other flank Panther and stopped, jaw open in shock, before grabbing the radio. "Enemy T-34s on the right flank!" she screamed into it.

"How many?" came Maho's calm voice.

"All of them!" came the panicked reply as ten more T-34s, concealed by the thick smoke, rolled past in the wake of their comrades towards the Kuromorimine flag, the avalanche in full force.

* * *

"That's a bold move," said Darjeeling, watching the display as the cascade of red blocks tore through Kuromorimine lines.

"That extra speed we were able to coax out of the engines is being put to good use," said Satoko, next to her.

"Everyone keeps looking at me funny when I suggest we charge," said Nishi. "I guess you just have to do it right."

"I bet Anzu's loving this," said Yuzu. "She gets to completely mess up the Kuromorimine line a second time."

* * *

True enough, the revelation that almost Pravda's entire force had penetrated their wedge and was bearing down on their flag tank had sent the Kuromorimine tankers into a panic. The turretless panzerjäger in the right side of the line were swinging around franticly to engage the Pravda tanks behind them, while the left flank began wildly turning towards the center to save their flag.

This presented a wonderful opportunity for the three Pravda heavies on the ridge. The Panther on the right flank which had been the first to spot the oncoming avalanche was the first victim of its chaos, as a shot from Nonna's SU-100 slammed into it. Nearby, the JagdPanther on the right flank was the next to fall to a shot from the IS-2 to its exposed rear. Nonna's next shot finished the other Panther on the right flank.

The left flank wasn't immune to the carnage. Another massive explosion from a 152mm shell rocked the JagdPanzers on the left, sending one onto its side, out of the battle. More importantly, the fact that there was a massive howitzer in range knocking craters in the landscape further panicked the tanks on the flank. Much faster than anyone expected, another massive explosion de-tracked one of the left flank Panthers.

Still, the front of the Kuromorimine line continued its inexorable move towards the ridge. The commanders that had been assigned to those tanks and tank destroyers were among the most disciplined and the gunners the most accurate. Realizing that half the positions on the ridge were decoys, they quickly identified which were the actual Pravda firing positions.

The JagdTiger was the first to get revenge for its lesser panzerjäger brethren, targeting the massive bulk of the KV-2 protruding above the ridgeline. A well placed shot from its massive 128mm cannon slammed into Katyusha's tank, knocking it over and out.

The IS-2 was the next to go. The big tank was the target of both of the Konigstigers and the Elefant. A volley of fire from the Kuromorimine heavies finally knocked it out.

Still, the slim profile of the SU-100 kept it alive as shells fell around it. Nonna fired again, felling the second JagdPanther before it could fire on the T-34s charging the flag tank. She ignored the tanks raining shells down on her position, as her own survival didn't matter, she only needed to help clear as much of the defenders as possible to give Klara and Anzu a shot.

She was trying to line up a shot on the last Panther on the left flank when a shout from her driver got her attention. "Nonna! Check the middle of the line!"

* * *

The two T-34/76s remaining in the front of the Pravda charge didn't survive to reach their assigned targets, the Panthers in the rearguard. Still, they hadn't expected to get this far.

The gunners of the two T-34/85s behind them searched for their Tiger prey as the T-34/57 nicknamed 'Akula' for its deceptive skills and dangerous crew veered off towards the Panthers.

Pravda hadn't expected to be able to maintain command between the Kuromorimine heavies sure to be targeting their commander's tank destroyer and the swirling chaos that Operation Avalanche had been sure to bring, so they had taken a play from the German playbook and drilled their tankers in their individual missions. The T-34/76s were to secure the area, especially getting rid of Panthers by hitting their flanks and rear, as the gun couldn't reliably kill a Tiger. The T-34/85s had one mission: kill the Tigers. Ignore everything else. The 'Akula' shark could hunt as it pleased.

Mako swung the tank behind the two Panthers. Behind the cannon, Anzu grinned as she fired into one, knocking it out. Sodoko rammed another shell into the breech, and Anzu fired again, knocking the other rearguard Panther out.

Anzu opened the top hatch and stuck her head out looking for targets. Around her, the smoke of knocked out tanks mixed with the smoke from the Pravda smokescreen. Nearby, two T-34/85s had already gone down, but the remaining six were closing in on the Tiger she could barely make out in the smoke.

She watched as the Tiger shrugged off two hits, and knocked another T-34/85 out with a well placed shot before turning away.

Still, something was off, she was missing something. She peered closely at the Tiger. The smoke parted, just enough to give her a momentary clear view, causing her to freeze in shock. She could just make out the number on the turret.

212.

Maho's Tiger.

Where was Miho's flag tank? Where was 217?

Anzu looked around. She was behind the Kuromorimine formation, behind the T-34s swarming in to kill the wrong Tiger in the smoke.

Where could Miho have gone?

What would Miho do?

She dropped into the tank. "Mako! Head through the mess back towards our lines! As fast as possible!" she ordered.

* * *

Nonna fired at the last left flank Panther, knocking it out, before turning the gun towards the middle of the field to look for whatever her driver had spotted. Her sight passed over a Konigstiger and the JagdTiger, firing at her, before coming to rest on another tank, advancing fast between the JagdTiger and the Elefant towards her.

It was a Tiger.

Miho's Tiger.

And it was aimed at her.

Nonna fired, hurriedly, without taking time to aim. The shot from the Pravda tank scored a line down the Tiger's side armor, even as the Tiger's shot slammed into the tank destroyer's front, knocking it out.

* * *

Anzu's tank shot forward, dodging around the other T-34s. Anzu stuck her head out to get a better view. Around her, Pravda tanks fired at everything in Kuromorimine yellow. Ahead, the Kuromorimine heavies still rumbled forward, 76mm rounds ineffectively pinging off their heavy armor. The two Konigstigers were only starting to bring their turrets around to cover their rears as they advanced.

Then, in front of them, she spotted the Miho's Tiger. It was headed straight up the ridge where Pravda's heavies had been firing, and was nearly at the top. The ridge was now silent, and she could make out three plumes of smoke.

She turned to check the status of the fight behind her. Maho's tank was still active, though almost surrounded. Strangely, it didn't seem to be trying to shoot any of the T-34/85s nearby. It was turning its turret…

She dropped into the turret, hard, seconds before Maho's Tiger fired into the fleeing T-34/57. The force of the shot nearly flipped the tank.

A moment later, a shot from Klara's T-34/85 finally found a vulnerable spot on 212. For the first time in a tournament in years, a Kuromorimine Tiger rolled to a stop, smoking, and deployed a white flag. Still, it would not be enough to carry the day.

"Pravda Flag Tank Eliminated. The match is over. Kuromorimine Womens College wins the national championship!" came the voice over the radio.

* * *

"Dammit!" or variations thereof, came from nearly all of the girls in the stands as Miho's tiger fired into the Pravda flag tank.

"We lost, all because Miho charged forward in the smoke, and the oncoming Pravda tanks mistook Maho's Tiger for Miho's," said Arisa.

"Even then," said Kay, "they still took out three quarters of Kuromorimine's tanks, including Maho, the two-time national champion. We knew it was a risky plan, and it very nearly worked."

"Yes," added Darjeeling, "Pravda did an incredible job. At the very least, this is excellent ammunition we can use to prove Kuromorimine isn't invincible, if we have to argue with the Ministry."

"Here comes Miho," said Yukari, pointing to Tiger 217, which had driven up to the stands.

"Hana, did you bring the items I requested?" asked Darjeeling.

"Yes, they're in the truck," Hana said, pointing to the St. Gloriana truck in the parking area just behind the stands. "I'll go get them."

Hana ran down to the truck, returning minutes later with a bouquet of flowers and a bottle wrapped in paper. After checking to make sure the bouquet was intact, Hana handed it to Darjeeling and the bottle to Kay.

"Nishi," said Darjeeling to the Chi-Ha-Tan commander, "Kay, Anchovy and I had agreed we would send joint congratulations to the victor of the match. You, as a team commander, are welcome to join us."

Nishi nodded. "I'd like that. It was a glorious battle."

"Let's go get Anchovy," said Kay.

"I'm already here," said Anchovy, as she took off her apron. "Capraccio's watching the truck. I came as soon as I heard."

The four commanders walked down to the field, where most of the small Kuromorimine contingent in the stands were congratulating their team's commander on the win. Miho looked nervous as her schoolmates swarmed around her, and tried to hide behind her crew. Catching sight of the four commanders approaching, Miho became even more nervous, and started looking around for her sister.

Seeing the girl's distress, Captain Chouno stood up and walked forward to keep an eye on things.

Darjeeling stepped forward with the bouquet. "On behalf of the commanders of the other teams in the tournament, we'd like to congratulate you and your team on your win, Miho."

"Uh… I… uh…" Miho stammered, before m

* * *

anaging to come out with a "thanks" as she took the bouquet.

Kay stepped towards the JGSDF officer. "It's an Anzio tradition to also thank the officials, and that's a tradition the rest of us think worthy of copying. We'd like you and your team to have this. Just don't ask where we got it." She winked as she handed over the bottle of 120-proof sake.

Ami laughed. "It's been an awesome tournament. You kids really impressed me this year. I'm just glad you were able to get it done before they…"

She stopped, catching the looks Kay, Darjeeling, and Anchovy were giving her. Nishi, meanwhile, was oblivious, merely thrilled to be meeting the legendary Miho Nishizumi.

"What is the Ministry doing?" said Anchovy, careful to keep her voice low, walking up beside Kay.

"There have been a number of proposals," said Ami, shocked at the calm way the three commanders had taken charge of the situation. "I don't know what they will decide on, but there's a meeting scheduled."

"Where? When?" Anchovy asked.

"Two days from now, at the Ministry of Education," Ami said. She knew the Ministry had kept the discussion of proposed changes secret during the tournament, but the kids obviously knew something was up. Besides, said a small part of her mind, she didn't like the proposed changes either, and they had kindly given her and the judges a bottle of sake.

"Well," said Darjeeling. "Our course of action is clear. Let's meet with the others after the closing ceremony."

* * *

Next: Always Advancing XXXVIII: Fight the Power

Author's Notes: One of the things I have to write around is the differing team compositions and how they would affect the battles from the series. I don't see any reason that the tournament finale would take place anywhere else than the JGSDF training grounds where the finale took place in series. In the series, the Kuromorimine force was on Oarai right away, enough to take out Anteater (the crew of which we must note still have not made their appearance in the fic). That short time to engagement lends itself to a quick battle, rather than a tricky plan.

Next episode: the genre saviness pays off, and the villain we love to hate appears.


	38. Fight the Power

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXXVIII: Fight the Power

by Civilis

* * *

"Is everyone here?" asked Darjeeling, looking over the crowd ready to board the chartered bus at the Tokyo airport for the drive to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Her own contingent, consisting of herself, Pekoe, Assam, and Yuzu had taken the train in to the meeting place at the airport. Assam carried her trusty laptop, and Yuzu had a bag of printouts. Pekoe carried a thermos of tea and some cups.

"We're all here," said Anchovy, gesturing to Carpaccio and Momo. Momo also had a bag of printouts. The Anzio team had also taken the train in.

"I'm here," said Nishi, who had been confused as to what was going on, but had accepted the invitation and train fare.

"Our team is here," said Kay, followed by Yukari and Arisa. The Saunders C-47 was just visible parked at the general aviation section of the airport.

"Pravda is here," said Nonna, who had come alone on a commercial flight from Hokkaido.

"No Anzu?" asked Yukari. "She's the real political expert."

"She's had some bad experiences with the Ministry," said Yuzu. "She emailed me to say she would be remaining behind."

"She did have this to give you," said Nonna, handing over to Momo a sealed envelope with a folded note attached. "Per her instructions, I didn't look at it."

Momo read the note, then showed it to Yuzu, who blinked in surprise. Momo carefully placed the sealed envelope in her bag, then tore the note to shreds and threw it in a recycling bin.

"What is that?" asked Kay, curious.

"A weapon of last resort," said Momo.

* * *

"Well, looks like we're not the only Sensha-Do team commanders here," said Kay, as the bus approached the Ministry of Education. She gestured to the traffic stopped on the road in front of them behind a black Daimler-Benz G4 staff car that had stopped in front of the ministry building.

The driver could be seen at the rear driver-side door, where a stern woman with long black hair was just getting out of the car, followed by two girls in Kuromorimine Gray.

"The Nishizumis do know how to travel in style," said Yukari, appreciatively.

"Why am I not surprised that Nishizumi Shiho herself is here?" asked Anchovy.

"This means we are not too late for the meeting," added Darjeeling.

"We still have to get in," said Anchovy.

"Let me handle that," Arisa said confidently, her tricky grin briefly appearing on her face. "Momo, hand me one of those packets. Nonna, stick close behind me."

The bus eventually reached the front of the Ministry when the traffic started moving again, and the students piled out.

Arisa in the lead, packet in hand, the group headed in to the Ministry lobby.

Arisa stormed up to the reception desk. "Where is the Sensha-Do Program Meeting being held? We're late," she said, waving the packet of papers.

"I'm sorry," said the receptionist. "And you are…?"

"We're with Nishizumi-dono. She's going to be upset if we miss the meeting," Arisa continued.

Behind her, Nonna glared down at the receptionist.

"It's… it's in the meeting room on the third floor, 3-Conf-A" said the receptionist, gesturing to the elevators.

"Thanks!" said Arisa, as she beckoned the group forwards.

The elevator was a tight fit, but the group squeezed in for the ride up. On the third floor, they caught a glimpse of the Nishizumis being escorted in to a room down the corridor. The group hurried after them, Arisa waving papers at anyone that looked like they might try to stop them.

"Act like you belong in the meeting," said Arisa, just before throwing open the door and barging in.

Yukari, who had been with Arisa the last time she had bluffed her way into someplace she didn't belong, was the next in to the room, as Arisa grabbed one of the open chairs and sat down.

At the front of the room, the Ministry of Education bureaucrat she vaguely remembered from when they had made the final attempt to shut down Oarai in the other timeline stood at the head of the table, jaw open at the sudden intrusion.

She spotted Capt. Chouno sitting next to a senior JGSDF officer. Ami quickly smiled when she spotted the group. Next to the JGSDF officers was an older man she recognized as the head of the Sensha-Do Federation. Elsewhere in the room, Miho sat nervously next to her mother and sister. Neither of the elder Nishizumis showed much reaction. Across from Nishizumi Shiho sat Shimada Chiyo, head of the rival Shimada school of Sensha-Do, who looked bemused by the spectacle. The other adults were unrecognizable.

"What is the meaning of this?" thundered the bureaucrat. "This is a private meeting!"

"Why wouldn't members of the major high school Sensha-Do teams be welcome at a meeting to discuss the future of high school Sensha-Do?" asked Darjeeling, smiling calmly at the man as she sat down.

"Major teams?" the bureaucrat replied, angrily. "Based on the tournament records, there is only one major team. Kuromorimine has won eleven straight years. You all lost, again."

The man turned to the adults at the table. "The Ministry has been directed to look out for the future of Japanese Sensha-Do. Because of some objections to our proposals, we gave the high school teams one last chance with this year's tournament, and, yet again, they all lost. The future is with Kuromorimine, anything else is a waste of time and money."

"That's not true," said Kay. "Both of the matches against Kuromorimine this year could have gone the other way."

"Are you saying we won by luck?" said Shiho. Like Darjeeling her calm tone had a dangerous undercurrent, made even more dangerous by her years of experience.

"No," said Anchovy. "You won by money. We couldn't duplicate Kuromorimine's arsenal with ten times the money. The tanks aren't available on the market, not at prices high school teams can afford. There are professional teams that don't have Kuromorimine's arsenal. Even with the incredible skills of your daughters, inferior teams nearly beat them."

"The Ministry can't afford to waste more money on failed programs," said the bureaucrat. "We've given you plenty and it's all had nothing to show for it. We're losing money on Sensha-Do thanks to you, and we have to make cuts and streamline the program."

"That's not true," said Yuzu, "and we can prove it. Can we use your projector?" she gestured to the device in the middle of the table.

"No. You're not welcome here," the man replied, icily.

"Now, now, Renta," said the Shimada head, who had been smiling bemusedly the entire time, "I want to hear what they have to say."

Yukari blinked, and tried to think of what the sides were in the political battlefield that was the room. The Nishizumis, seeing glory for Kuromorimine, were obviously on the Ministry side. Well, Miho was probably just confusedly following her mother's lead, but the other two were opponents. Would that make the Shimada head an ally, then? The Shimada school was bigger at the university level. Putting a rival school in charge of high school Sensha-Do couldn't sit well with the woman.

Ami's reactions at the National Tournament Finals suggested she might be an ally. She had always been friendly in both timelines. On the other hand, she was a big fan of the Nishizumi family, Yukari remembered. The Sensha-Do Federation head had also been an ally in the other timeline, but she had no idea where he stood here. The others were complete mysteries.

"Fine," said the bureaucrat, Renta. She remembered his name was Renta Tsuji. He was an unpleasant man, who had taken out his anger on Oarai after the tournament win in the other timeline as petty revenge. What were his motivations here? He had already defeated Anzu once this timeline when he had closed Oarai; was that why Anzu wasn't here?

Assam pulled out her laptop, swiftly connected it to the projector, and handed it to Yuzu. Momo, meanwhile, passed out the handouts from her bag and Yuzu's bag to the adults and the Nishizumi sisters, then stood by the screen.

Yuzu called up the first slide, with the title 'An Analysis of Sensha-Do Match Revenues, by Koyama Yuzuko, Kawashima Momo, and Assam'.

"The reason the Ministry's analysis is wrong," explained Momo, as she stepped through the slides, "is that the revenue for the Sensha-Do matches is less when Kuromorimine is involved. The most popular match this year, in terms of attendance and TV viewership was the Pravda vs Saunders match, which was all the way up in Hokkaido. The Saunders vs Anzio match was a close second, beating even the Tournament Final in terms of physical attendance."

"Isn't that because of the long distance for both teams from the location of the Tournament Final?" said one of the women at the table that Yukari didn't recognize.

"And Saunders antics off the field also helped draw attention to their matches," said a man, also unknown to Yukari.

"But the pattern persists when looked at over previous years, although not as much," said Assam.

"That's likely because everyone knows Kuromorimine is going to win," said Renta. "I say go with the Ministry's proposal, that we close down the schools that can't compete, like those idiots at Bonple and Chi-Ha-Tan, and appoint professional coaches for the rest."

Yukari caught movement out of the corner of her eye. The Ministry meeting room had been decorated with gifts to the Ministry, one of which looked to be a katana on a wall plaque. Nishi was edging toward the sword. Whether to kill Renta, herself, or both, Yukari didn't know.

"Pekoe!" Yukari cried, catching the attention of everyone in the room. Pekoe, meanwhile, quietly grabbed the Chi-Ha-Tan commander and held her back.

"Sorry… just trying to keep people calm," said Yukari, sheepishly. Still, she had everyone's attention, and it would be good to keep it while Pekoe held Nishi. She may as well run with it. "So is the Ministry going to buy new German tanks for everyone so they can keep up with Kuromorimine? I mean, what else would Nishizumi School coaches use?"

Shimada Chiyo frowned.

"Or will there be some Shimada School coaches?" Yukari continued.

Nishizumi Shiho frowned.

"Or will you just take Kuromorimine's expensive tanks away to keep it even?" she finished.

Maho, impassive as always, just raised an eyebrow. Yukari wondered if she cared. This was going to be her last year at Kuromorimine, after all.

Miho, hesitantly, raised a hand. When she had everyone's attention, she stammered, "I… I think… this year… was fine. I… I don't think we need… need to change anything."

"Silence!" Renta snapped at the girl, causing both her mother and sister to look at him, angrily.

Seemingly oblivious, he continued. "The Ministry has final say. We're not wasting more money, so either we agree to my proposal or we just cut funding from these other schools entirely."

"I think the girls have a point," said Shimada Chiyo, who had adopted the same dangerously calm voice her rival had used earlier. "And since you personally don't control university Sensha-Do funding, and since this concerns the girls who will one day become university and then professional Sensha-Do players, perhaps even going on to the Japanese National Team for the International Sensha-Do Tournament we're going to be hosting," she said, laying on her status as thickly as possible, "I might have to talk to someone else in the Ministry about it."

"Perhaps," said the Sensha-Do Federation representative, speaking up for the first time, "we could let them prove what they are saying? If I understand them right, they think they have better players. Certainly, I was impressed with their skill this year. How about a match, then, between Kuromorimine's team and a team of the best of the other teams, before we make a decision?"

A man in a JGSDF uniform sitting next to Ami spoke up. "I think that sounds like a good idea, if Nishizumi and the Kuromorimine administration agree."

"This is absurd," said Renta.

"I do not have a problem with the idea of another match," said Shiho. "My daughters will not lose. I'm sure the Kuromorimine administration will back me up."

Maho stood up, and stared straight at Yukari. "There has been an unusual amount of outside disruption to the matches this year. Shimada Alice, for one, is still eligible for high school Sensha-Do despite being on the University Strengthened Team. I request that nobody not currently enrolled in a Japanese high school be allowed to participate in the match," she said, calmly. "Further, according to the slides we just saw, a number of the teams still have an excess of money. I request that no tank not currently in the inventory of one of our high school teams be allowed. Finally, given this is supposed to be a team effort, I request you use no more than five tanks from any individual team."

"Nonna, as commander of the other team to make it to the finals, you speak for us," said Kay, and Darjeeling and Anchovy nodded in agreement.

"We agree to the requests. Where and when should the match be held?" Nonna said.

"A neutral location," said Maho. "How about two weeks?"

Nonna glanced at the other commanders. After a moment, Kay nodded, followed by Darjeeling and Anchovy. "That sounds fine," Nonna replied.

"The Ministry of Defense can't get the Mt. Fuji range for you on that short notice," said the JGSDF officer.

"There will be issues finding a spot to host," said Shimada Chiyo, "as a lot of the university teams are just ramping up their practice season."

"Nishizumi, a word with you and your daughters," said Renta.

The bureaucrat and the Nishizumis stepped out of the room to discuss something.

When the door had shut, the senior JGSDF officer looked at the girls around the room. "I'm General Hazama," he introduced himself, "I should apologize. Renta has been really pushing this reform plan of his. Normally, I wouldn't involve myself this much directly with the Ministry of Education's control of Sensha-Do, especially high school Sensha-Do, but Ami here thinks there is something wrong, and she insisted someone back her up."

"I'm surprised you girls agreed so readily to their demands," said Ami.

"We think we can win this fairly," said Darjeeling.

"At this point, it's more like it's rigged in Kuromorimine's favor," Ami replied. "Still, he's the one with the authority here."

Several of the other adults in the room voiced similar opinions.

A few minutes later, Renta and the Nishizumis returned. Maho remained standing as the others took their seats.

"The Ministry has requested, and Kuromorimine agrees, that the match should be held with rules more closely resembling those at which higher-level games are played," Maho said. "Specifically, this should be an Annihilation match, twenty tanks per team."

There were some gasps from around the room.

Nonna looked at the other commanders. "Can we have a moment?" she asked Maho, who nodded.

Kay, Nonna, Anchovy and Darjeeling got up and left the room. Yukari got up and followed as Pekoe escorted Nishi to join them.

"Annihilation? I don't know that we can handle that," said Kay.

"Yukari? Any thoughts?" asked Darjeeling.

"The Ministry is going to be watching this closely," said Yukari. "I wouldn't be surprised if they put pressure on Kuromorimine to make the Maus the flag tank if we stick with a flag match."

"Politically, we've gotten a lot of credit by agreeing to Maho's suggestions," said Anchovy.

"Actually," said Nonna, "I think tactically we're better suited to an Annihilation match. Nothing we have will survive for long as a flag tank. This way, they have to take us all out."

"I think Nonna's right," said Yukari. "I think we can do this."

"Any one else?" said Kay.

"I trust Yukari," said Darjeeling. "Let's go for it."

"All right, I'll keep trusting you, Yukari," said Kay. "Nishi? You in or out? If you cut out now, and the Ministry kills our teams, you might be able to cut a deal."

"No," said Nishi, "it would be dishonorable for me to abandon you now. I'll charge along side you."

The group filed back into the meeting room.

"We agree to your suggestion to make this an Annihilation Match, twenty tanks per team," said Nonna.

"Good," said Maho.

"Are you fine with this, Miho?" asked Yukari. "You are the Kuromorimine commander, after all."

Miho looked at her sister, then back at Yukari. "It… it is fine," she said.

"We do demand that the Ministry not force any changes to the Sensha-Do teams until the match is completed," said Nonna.

Everyone looked at Renta. "Fine. The Ministry agrees," he said reluctantly.

"We want all of this in writing," said Yuzu, Momo, and Assam, almost simultaneously. Anzu had drilled that into the three when they had been working on the political end. Renta looked annoyed, but some of the other adults struggled to hide a smile.

The head of the Sensha-Do Federation drafted a copy of the agreement, which was signed by Maho, Miho, the other commanders, and Renta, then witnessed by the head of the Sensha-Do Federation and General Hazama.

Maho gestured to the screen, where a list of registered Sensha-Do fields was displayed, along with info regarding their availability. "We've been looking over the available match locations. Once we rule out the home fields of the teams involved, there's not a lot left."

"You are the National Champions, we should have the match at your home field in Kumamoto," said Renta.

"We can win this anywhere," said Maho. "This way, there will be no complaints about the location being in Kuromorimine's favor. How about that location?" she pointed to a city on the list.

"Whichever one you want is fine," said Nonna, keeping her voice neutral.

"Good, we'll see you in two weeks," said Maho, looking closely at the screen, "in… Oarai."

* * *

Next: Always Advancing XXXIX: United We Stand

Author's Notes: I'm running into the parts that need major work, so it may be a couple more weeks for the next section, though the holidays are good for writing.

It was kind of obvious that it would come down to this, and I think even the characters involved expected something like this to happen. One of the points of this story is that the characters learned a lot from Miho in the original series, both about tanks and about friendship. Even the characters that don't remember the events of the original story are better than they were during the original series from having learned from those that do remember.

Shimada Alice doesn't show up in the story; she may show up in a follow on story.

It doesn't matter whether General Hazama is just a coincidentally named character or a cameo; this isn't a GATE crossover. I needed a named senior JGSDF officer, and he fit. His role in the story is minor.


	39. United We Stand

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXXIX: United We Stand

by Civilis

* * *

"Good work, everyone," said Anzu, as the final meeting of what had been deemed the United High School Alliance before the match with Kuromorimine came to its conclusion.

The two weeks between the meeting at the Ministry of Education and the match to determine the fate of Sensha-Do had passed in a whirlwind of planning and preparation. All of the schools that had decided to throw their lot in against the Ministry had done their part. The tanks that would be forming the team were in perfect operational condition. Morale was high. Plans had been made. Tactics had been discussed. They were as ready as they could be.

They just had one evening left before the match.

In the biggest meeting room of a hotel on the outskirts of the city of Oarai, several hundred girls were crammed together.

"Now," said Kay, "the commanders of the team have each asked to say a few words. Darjeeling?"

Darjeeling walked to the front of the stage, holding her notes.

Darjeeling cleared her throat and read, "in the morning, we will be fighting what may be our final battle. Upon this battle depends the survival of Sensha-Do. Upon it depends our own school lives, and the long continuity of our teams and our traditions. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned upon us. Kuromorimine knows that they will have to break us tomorrow to win."

"If we can stand up to them, we all may be free and our school lives may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then all of our teams, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if our teams, our traditions, and our schools last for a thousand years, the girls that come after us will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'"

Darjeeling waited for the polite applause to stop. "I wanted to thank the many people that made this day possible. I know we come from different backgrounds, shaped by different experiences, with different futures ahead of us. Still, today we are all together, on the same team, for the same cause. Even though we may face each other in the future, it will always be as friends, as we will always remember this day we stood together."

"Nishi?" she said, gesturing to the Chi-Ha-Tan commander. The Chi-Ha-Tan delegation was small, but enthusiastic about the upcoming battle.

Nishi took the microphone. "I wanted to thank everyone for their help and support. I know we're not the best, but we want to thank you all for the opportunity to charge alongside you." She bowed to the crowd, then handed the microphone back to Darjeeling.

It took a few moments for it to register that that was all Nishi had to say. There was a polite but short round of applause.

In the crowd, Caesar elbowed Saemonza, then whispered, "We need to get them more into the spirit of the thing. Any ideas, oh mighty general?"

It was Oryou that responded. "Allow me. There's a Meiji-era tradition that should do the trick." She crouch-walked down the aisle over to a spot just behind the Chi-ha-tan contingent.

The applause died down. Before Kay could take the microphone, a familiar voice sounded loudly from the stands from the direction of the Chi-ha-tan contingent.

"Chi-Ha-Tan Banzai!"

As with their Sensha-Do style, it didn't take much prompting to get the Chi-Ha-Tan students to throw everything into it. As one the Chi-Ha-Tan contingent in the stands stood up and finished the traditional cheer. "Chi-Ha-Tan Banzai! Chi-Ha-Tan Banzai!"

Slightly embarrassed, the group started to sit back down, but the first voice wasn't done.

"Sensha-Do Banzai!"

If there was one thing that it didn't take much prompting to get students in the room to support, it was 'long-live Sensha-Do'. On the second "Sensha-Do Banzai", most of the nearby students from other schools had joined in. On the third "Sensha-Do Banzai", the entire room picked up the cheer.

* * *

As the room settled down, Kay walked to the front of the stage. Behind her, the display changed to the flags of the various schools, cycling one after the other. She reached behind the podium and pulled out an olive green bowl helmet with four stars on the front, and put it on her head.

In the audience, the Saunders Movie Club freshmen and the Anzio History Club girls cheered as she looked at her notes at the podium.

"Ladies, all this stuff you hear about us not wanting to fight is a lot of bull. We all love Sensha-Do. Since we were kids, we have admired its champions. Sensha-Do is the most significant competition in which a woman can indulge. It brings out all that is best and it removes all that is base."

"Sure, there's risk involved. This is new for some of you. Many of you are scared. But a real hero is the woman who fights even though she's scared. Real women never let their fear of death overpower their honor, their sense of duty to their school, and their duty to their friends."

"This is a sport, and we are a team. We live, eat, sleep, and fight as a team. This individual hero stuff is bull. And we have the best team — we have the finest food and equipment," she gestured to Anchovy and Darjeeling, "the best spirit," she gestured to a blushing Nishi, "and the best women in the world," she finished, gesturing to Nonna and Klara. "I actually pity these poor kids we're going up against."

"Every one of you has played a vital role, so don't ever let up. Don't ever think that your job is unimportant. Every one of us does their job. Everyone is important. Sure, we all want to save our teams. But we can't win lying down. The quickest way to get it over with is to go through Kuromorimine."

"Then there's one thing you will be able to say when this battle is over and you get back to school. Thirty years from now when you're sitting in your apartment with your family and they ask, 'What did you do in high school?' you won't have to cough and say, 'Well, I just went home every afternoon.' No, you will be able to look them straight in the eye and say 'I rode with the great United Alliance!' "

"All right, you know how I feel. I'll be proud to lead you wonderful ladies in battle anytime, anywhere. That's all." She dropped the microphone on the podium, and walked back to her seat, grinning all the way.

* * *

Anchovy was the next to address the crowd. Unlike Darjeeling and Kay, she carried no notes with her to the podium.

The cries of "Duce!" began from the Anzio section as soon as she stood up. Yukari quickly joined in, followed by much of the Saunders crew, and even some of the more enthusiastic St. Gloriana and Pravda students.

Once she reached the podium, Duce Anchovy raised her hands and the crowd obediently fell silent.

"Thank you all for the warm welcome!" She turned to the commanders seated on stage. "It's nice to see that I don't need to quote long-dead politicians or blockbuster movies to entertain the crowds."

Even Kay and Darjeeling laughed at the implied dissmissal.

Anchovy turned back to the crowd. "Today, I'm not here to talk about myself, but about someone else most of you have heard many times over the past two weeks. We at Anzio have many skilled soldiers, and those that support the team in other ways. However, for all of us going in to tomorrow's battle, the person I want to introduce is Takebe Saori. Saori, please stand up."

In the crowd, Saori stood up, blushing at the attention.

Yukari was about to begin a round of applause for her friend when she heard the faint clapping begin from the St. Gloriana section. It grew in intensity, until Saori's voice cut it off with a "Quiet, everyone, and listen to Anch… to Duce."

Duce Anchovy nodded in approval. "Most of you know Saori as one of our best cooks. You might not know this, but Saori also just passed the Second Class Radio Operator's exam. Saori's role in the battle is as chief of communications. She will be keeping track of everyone's positions and the reported positions of enemy tanks. She will also be relaying orders from sub-commanders in the field. Listen to Saori. And don't make more work for her. Her job is hard. Those radio discipline instructions are there for a reason."

Saori waited for a pause, then spoke up. "If something happens to me, all radio operators have the backup chain of communication. Hopefully, it won't come down to that."

On stage, Duce Anchovy straightened up. "Saori, I, your Duce, salute you. May your voice lead us to victory."

The cheers of "Duce! Saori! Duce! Saori!" started from Pepperoni and Carpaccio in the Anzio section at the same time as a fierce standing ovation spread out from Yukari and Hana's positions in the crowd, and lasted until Saori's face turned completely crimson and she sat down.

* * *

Finally, Nonna walked up to the podium. As commander of the Alliance school with the best record, she was officially the team commander. Still compared to Anchovy, Kay and Darjeeling, she felt deficient as a leader. She liked being in the back, out of the line of sight. She could manage the Pravda team well enough; as much as she hated speaking, she could manage to do so without stammering like Miho. But she had a hard time motivating the Pravda team, and the idea of motivating not just her schoolmates but those on the other teams that were counting on her made her secretly nervous, not that she would let it show.

It made a sort of twisted sense that Katyusha had been the Pravda commander in the other timeline. She had no memories of that timeline, but could still picture Katyusha, immature as she was, as someone out front, standing tall… well, as short as Katyusha was, her presence was much larger than her physical size would suggest. However, fate worked in mysterious ways, so here she was.

After the idea had been raised to have the commanders each give some sort of motivational speech before the match, Nonna had wanted to object, but the other commanders had been so enthusiastic she hadn't wanted to quash that important enthusiasm, so it had gone through. She'd gone to Anzu for help, and the two had spent some time thinking it over (time that, surely coincidentally, kept Anzu from having to do any other work). She couldn't imitate the other commanders; she lacked Kay's enthusiasm for movies, Darjeeling's voluminous knowledge of historical quotations, or Anchovy's natural talent for working the crowd. They were all different, and that was a good thing.

Once at the podium, Nonna picked up the microphone, but rather than speak, she gestured to Anzu.

On the screen, a familiar grainy filmstrip began to play.

"Sensha-do, a part of our culture with a long history, taken by many girls throughout the world," came the soothing voice of whomever had recorded the filmstrip's narration. "An art that aims to make girls and women alike more polite, graceful, modest and gallant."

After the performances put on by the other commanders, the ancient filmstrip was a let down. The girls that had been enthusiastic started to drift their attentions elsewhere. Even the Pravda discipline committee members seemed hard pressed to support their commander.

In the audience, Yukari could tell that even Nonna herself wasn't interested in the film, as her scowl was worse than usual and she tapped her foot impatiently.

The film continued. "It could be said that learning Sensha-do is to train the part of you that makes you feminine. Intense and strong like iron, adorable like the clattering of its track, and passionate and precise like its main cannon…"

"Anzu…" said Nonna, suddenly. Immediately, the film froze and the screen went dark.

"I think we have all seen this before, enough that I don't need to continue," Nonna calmly explained. "I'm sure there are a couple of people that listened to that in elementary school and believed it, but that wouldn't keep you waking up in the dark to practice every morning. You have to have more than that to keep doing Sensha-Do. If you just wanted to take a traditional art that makes you feminine, you could have done something easy, like Ikebana." She glanced over towards the St. Gloriana contingent, who didn't seem to take offense.

"Everyone here chose to do Sensha-Do at least once…" Nonna paused, and looked over at the Discipline Committee members. After a moment, Pazomi nodded in agreement, followed shortly by the other two Discipline Committee members. "And in some cases, twice, knowing it meant working hard."

"Why do we do it?" she spoke, unusually loudly, before pausing again, letting the tension build. "Sensha-Do is a team sport. We do it for our comrades, for each other, because as a team we become friends. Even our opponents are our friends, people we can count on to give us a challenge to become better."

As she talked, Nonna walked away from the podium, down towards the audience. "One of the things about friends is that friends are different people. We have different strengths and weaknesses, we compliment each other, just like the teams compliment each other."

She stopped in front of Katyusha, who looked up at her in awe. "It's good that we're all different, because it would be rather boring if we were all alike. I don't like talking like this; I'd rather let my shots speak for me, but I'm learning from people like Kay and Darjeeling and Anchovy, just as we at Pravda are learning from Saunders and St. Gloriana."

Nonna looked around the girls crowded into the room. Yukari wondered what for, until Nonna's eyes locked onto her.

"I didn't understand it until very recently, why people were so driven to reach out to someone. I'm not a social person. But they're right, for Sensha-Do to survive, we need to do more than win, we need to reach out to Kuromorimine and to Nishizumi Miho, and show them that the heart of Sensha-Do isn't armor or cannon or femininity or even tanks, but the comrades… the friends we make along the way, and that we want them as friends."

She tossed the microphone to Yukari, who had just enough sense to catch it.

Even unamplified, Nonna's quiet voice was clearly audible. "Anything to add, comrade Akiyama, my friend?"

"I got into Sensha-Do thanks to Nishizumi Miho, and I'd do anything to get her back, because she was my friend. But I am glad to have made more new friends, and my old friends have made new friends. Thank you, everyone…" If there was more, Yukari couldn't say it, as choked up with emotion as she was.

But it didn't matter, there would be no way to hear it over the applause from around her.

* * *

Next: Always Advancing XL: Dance Dance Revolution

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay in posting; work and holidays gave me much less free time than I expected. This chapter was a major sticking point. Oddly, the most story relevant section was the last part written.


	40. Dance Dance Revolution

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XL: Dance Dance Revolution

by Civilis

* * *

"Okay, people are taking this way too seriously," said Yukari, as she looked over the stands at the main Oarai viewing area.

"We were hoping a lot of people would show up," said Hana, standing next to her, "but I didn't expect so many."

The announcement that a special match would be held between the High School National Champion Sensha-Do team and an all-star team from the best of the other high schools had sent shockwaves through the national Sensha-Do community, even if the reason for the match, the proposed changes to high school Sensha-Do, was being kept hidden by the Ministry of Education. The United Alliance commanders had agreed to keep the Ministry's proposal hidden to keep politics out of the match and to allow the Ministry to save face if Kuromorimine lost, although rumors, some accurate, were flying everywhere. Still, everyone knew that if Kuromorimine could beat the best all the other high schools combined could throw at them, it would prove their superiority beyond any doubt.

Sensha-Do fans that had skipped Kuromorimine's previous matches had come, just for the spectacle. University Sensha-Do team members had come to see all of the best of the next generation in one spot. All the participating high schools had sent massive groups of students and parents to cheer for their teams. The town of Oarai, sensing the potential economic boon, welcomed all of them.

Not that the locals were the only ones benefitting from the crowd. The very next day after the announcement, Momo, accompanied by representatives from the other United Alliance schools, had shown up at the city offices with a stack of proposals. Anzio food trucks, Saunders concession trucks, and stands from clubs at the other schools were mixed in with the local vendors at the major viewing areas. Even Chi-Ha-Tan had managed to put together a couple of udon stands. Momo had even sent a message to Kuromorimine, offering to assist them in getting in on the deal, for a modest cut, but the message had not received any response.

Still, Yukari had expected the crowds. What she had not properly expected was the VIP stand. All of the people that had attended the meeting at the Ministry of Education were present, sitting with the head of the Oarai city council and a cluster of what Yukari assumed were local dignitaries. On one side, General Hazama had brought a group of JGSDF uniformed officers, all of whom bore the insignia of tank units. On the other side sat a group of foreigners, discreetly escorted by a small group of Japanese government officials.

"Hana! Yukari!" said Klara, coming up next to her, pointing to a waving man in front of the group. "There's my father! Let me introduce you."

A bored local police officer tried to stop them on the way into the VIP section, but stopped when he spotted that the Pravda tanker was likewise a foreigner, and let them pass.

"Father!" said Klara in Japanese, "This are the two comrades I mentioned. Yukari is from Saunders, the American school. Hana is from St. Gloriana, the British school. Hana, Yukari, this is my father."

The Russian shook both their hands. "It's an honor to meet more friends of my daughter. I wish you both luck in the match."

Yukari caught the looks some of the other foreigners in the stands were giving Klara's father. One, a tall black man, stood up and walked down to the Russian. "[Georgy,]" he said in what was presumably Russian, "[You mean you really did come all this way for your daughter's sports event?]"

"[When did I ever say otherwise, Mike?]" the Russian replied in a mirthful tone.

"They are all foreign military officers," Klara explained in Japanese. "Apparently, NATO intelligence somehow found out that my father had requested permission from the Japanese to attend the match, and many of them insisted on being allowed to send representatives to watch as well."

Yukari blinked in surprise. Sensha-Do, although a sport, did traditionally have connections to the military, which was why promising JGSDF officers like Chouno Ami were detailed to help with team development. As there was an international tournament coming up, national pride would be involved as well. It was therefore unsurprising that other countries with tank units would be paying attention to Japanese Sensha-Do to help their own teams, and that the Japanese Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs would want to keep a close eye on those visitors. Still, it was odd to see them paying attention at the high school level.

"Not just NATO," said Klara's father in Japanese. "China, South Korea, Finland, Australia, and I believe the young lady over there is Israeli. You said you wanted more people to attend…"

Klara and the black foreigner, likely an American, both looked at Klara's dad. "[You mean..]" said the American, before he realized that the kids couldn't understand him and he switched to Japanese, "You mean you spilled your travel info just so you could get more people to your daughter's match?"

"That, and my daughter keeps telling me that the Japanese keep stressing how they'd rather have a good fight than a blowout win, and in that spirit, I don't want us to be the only other country with a real grasp of Japanese Sensha-Do. Besides, this way I have people to keep me company. Tell you what, Mike, when my daughter's team wins, I'll buy everyone a drink in the hotel bar."

Yukari took another look around the VIP area. Most of the foreigners had caught the exchange between the American and the Russian observers, and while there was some annoyance, it was tempered by the rationalization that at least they'd gotten a free trip out of it, and this was probably better than being stuck behind a desk.

She looked over the local VIPs, and caught sight of Mako's grandmother, sitting with a man Yukari didn't recognize. She walked over to the pair, Klara and Hana trailing behind.

"Ah, Mako's friend from Saunders," said Reizei Hisako. "I understand that I have you to thank for her getting involved in Sensha-Do. It at least seems to have gotten her a little more active. Nice to see you as well, Klara. Please thank Nonna for getting your principal to help me get down for the match."

"Thank you, sir, for helping us out," said Klara to Pravda's principal.

"I was going to come anyways. Good luck out there," the man said.

"Mother!" said Hana, catching sight of the woman in the stands, underneath an umbrella held by her apprentice, Shinzaburou.

"Young miss!" said Shinzaburou. "Welcome!"

"Hana," said her mother, formally. "I was a bit surprised when the City Council asked me if I wanted a seat to watch my daughter's match."

"Mother, I know this isn't something you're interested in," said Hana.

"Still, you are my daughter, and even if you've taken a different path, I still care for you," Isuzu Yuri said. "I'm glad to come out to watch. I passed a stand with girls serving tea, decorated with flower arrangements. Are those yours?"

"My students," said Hana. She had been too busy to help the St. Gloriana clubs with their preparations, but her students in the Flower Arrangement Club had pitched in with gusto.

"They are much improved. Even if the tea is odd," said the elder Isuzu.

"You have to ask them for green tea," Hana told her. "Thank you both for coming."

Shinzaburou nodded as well. "We wish you luck."

* * *

In the United Alliance staging area, the judges looked over the tanks. The Ministry of Education had sent a note telling the judges to hold the team to the letter of the rules. The Sensha-Do Federation had been a little less strict, but still, the implication was that they'd rather catch anything now than face probing questions from the Ministry later.

Still, the alliance had set up their staging area in full view of the main viewing area. Everyone could see what tanks they had brought to the match. They were even letting tank otaku up close to some of the tanks, if accompanied by a team member. Some of the fans were Kuromorimine students, and it was highly likely that at least one was reporting to the other team.

For the judges, at least, the accessibility of the Alliance staging area was a plus. The Kuromorimine staging area had been set up in an isolated industrial park outside of town. The park had been closed off for the day, and a local police officer was verifying that anyone going in was from Kuromorimine or the Sensha-Do Federation or had the permission of either. Despite Kuromorimine's reputation for being strictly by the book, the involvement of the Ministry had caused the judges to go over their tanks with a fine-tooth comb as well.

Still, there were a couple of things the Alliance was keeping from public view. Behind the staging area, out of sight, a pair of judges were going through the contents of an Anzio truck. One of them looked over a stack of folded canvas sheets that had been painted.

"It's all legal," said Erwin, watching the inspection. "It's just canvas and paint."

"And this?" said the judge, pulling a bow and a quivver of arrows out of the stack.

"We're using that as a tool," said Saemonza. "The arrows are blunt."

The judge looked at the girl, with her archery chest protector over her Anzio tankers uniform.

"Even so, it's a bow. Regulations limit equipment to things that might be carried during the Second World War, and modern equivalents at the judge's discretion," said the judge.

"Actually," said Saemonza, "it's specifically an English Longbow." She handed over a thick report.

The judge glanced through the report. "Footnotes? You included footnotes?" she asked the girl.

"You can see my justification," Saemonza replied.

"I'm going to disallow it, since I don't have time to read this," she replied. "However, I think this is not an attempt to cheat, so there is no penalty, and I'm going to take this to the judges for next time. You all have been cooperative, at least most of you."

The one exception to the Alliance cooperation with the judges stood in the alliance staging area. Six judges stood around the Saunders M4A3E2(76)W. When the judge that had first been assigned to inspect it caught sight of it and its commander, she had immediately radioed for help. They had another Arisa Special on their hands, and by the look of it, it was indeed one of the girl's infamous masterpieces.

The Sherman's front hull had been covered almost completely in sandbags, strapped to the tank. The sides of the turret, meanwhile, had been layered in extra tracks.

"These are sandbags. They're filled with sand. This is perfectly legal," Arisa told them. "I've been good all year."

The judges looked at her skeptically. They remembered the year before, with the radio controlled car incident, the high-powered flashlight incident, the inflatable tank incident, and the paint incident.

"Check everything," one said, pulling on a rubber glove. "Everything."

* * *

"Hi Mom, Dad," said Yukari, as she wandered into the stands where the visiting students and their families were setting up to watch. Hana and Klara had headed off to talk to friends from their schools before the match started, and so Yukari had a few minutes.

"Hi honey!" said her mom. Her father, eyes droopy, just rested against her mom.

"What's up with dad?" Yukari asked.

"He had a late night emergency haircut," her mom said. "One of your teammates needed some special help. Don't worry, the girls manning the truck can handle it. We want to watch the match."

Yukari looked around. The Saunders section was closest to the Kuromorimine section of the stands. Although Kay had warned the girls about starting anything, and had done everything she could to keep the mood for this match civil, the rumors flying around had led to some bad blood.

Still, open hostility had not broken out yet. There was a wide gap between the two groups of students. In the middle of the gap, in the very top of the stands, sat a single girl in Kuromorimine gray, one that looked familiar.

Yukari took off her Saunders jacket. "Mom, can I borrow dad's jacket?" She pointed to the bright blue jacket, which he had been using as a cushion.

Her mother nodded, and she threw it on. It was large enough to hide her shirt and the Saunders uniform shorts. Thus disguised, she headed up the gap into the stands.

* * *

"Comrade Nishi," said Nonna, looking up from where she was performing the final inspection of the Pravda tanks. "You wanted to speak to me? Are you worrying about your role again?"

"Yes," said Nishi. "I know what Yukari said the other day, but…"

Since the Chi-Ha-Tan commander had gotten more and more comfortable around the other commanders, her brave facade had cracked more and more.

"Are you scared?" said Nonna.

"No," Nishi replied, though Nonna could tell the girl was nervous. "Well, a little… it's our tank." She pointed to the Type 97 Shinhoto Chi-Ha parked between the IS-2 and one of the Churchill Mark VIIs. "A lot is riding on this battle. It's one thing to be upholding the traditions of the school. It doesn't matter if we lose, as long as the school's honor is upheld. But today a lot more than our school's honor is on the line. I worry what happens if we fail. A better tank would have more of a chance."

Nonna looked down at the girl. "Your tank isn't the weakest one here." She gestured to the Anzio and Saunders contingents.

"Still, we don't have the tactical skill the others have. We know how to charge," said Nishi. "That's all we can do."

"Sometimes, that is enough. The fact that you are here, charging along side us, means more to me and to all of us than another T-34 or Sherman would, regardless of whether you succeed or fail," said Nonna.

Nonna took the girl by the shoulder and turned her to face the stands, where she pointed to the Chi-Ha-Tan contingent, mixed in with and cheering alongside the girls from Anzio. "To them, the fact that you were here, fighting for them, that is all that matters."

"It's almost time. Still nothing?" said Kay, looking at Darjeeling in the tent that served as the United Alliance planning room.

"Aside from the one cryptic message this morning, I've heard nothing else from Mika," said Darjeeling.

"What is this cryptic message? Who is Mika?" said Gomoyo, looking over a copy of the map alongside Katyusha.

"Mika is the commander of the Keizoku Girls High School team. She has emailed me twice since I sent out that email asking if any of the other schools wanted to help," said Darjeeling. "The first message, last week, said she may have something for us. This morning she emails that she was sending us something, and I should wait for it. That's it."

"Doesn't sound like much," said Gomoyo.

"It's still more than anyone else," said Darjeeling. "The only other replies I received wer from Maginot, who wanted to help but the school administration didn't want to raise a stink with the Ministry, and from BC Freedom, who wished us luck but couldn't agree among themselves to help."

"Keizoku also is a very odd school," said Katyusha. "And they are mad at Pravda, so I don't think they will help us."

"Isn't it more like Pravda is mad at Keizoku?" said Darjeeling. "They did… unofficially lend-lease a couple of your tanks, let us say, as well as some of your students. Also, Keizoku was one of the rare schools that had a practice relationship with Kuromorimine. They might not want to endanger that by siding with us."

"Yeah, but one of the reasons they had a practice relationship with Kuromorimine was that the Keizoku team has a reputation for being very good, if very unorthodox," Kay reminded her.

"I know. We would certainly welcome their help. If they send a tank, I can leave Vanilla's Cromwell out of our lineup. She's still catching up to Satoko and Rosehip's skill with the fast crusier tanks," said Darjeeling. "This morning, she still wasn't sure her crew could handle it."

"We don't have much time," said Kay. "They're almost done with inspecting Arisa's tank. We need to submit our final list soon."

"Can we try to stall a little more?" said Darjeeling.

Kay looked out the tent at the Saunders delegation in the stands. "I think I can do that."

* * *

Anchovy had just finished up a final review of the Anzio Pizza catering arrangements to make sure they were up to her tight standards in the absence of both of her best cooks when she caught sight of Kay standing with the Saunders cheerleaders in front of the VIP section of the stands.

She had seen a couple of the girls in the stands at the match where Saunders had faced off against Pravda, but there had only been a handful. Today, all of them had come out to cheer for their school, and Kay was with them. The Saunders commander fit in with the routine perfectly, despite her olive drab jacket and cutoff jean shorts. She wasn't in some of the more complicated moves, admittedly, but still, she followed along.

As the routine continued, however, more and more of the Saunders tankers walked in to join the dance. Most fit in awkwardly, merely trying to follow along with a pom-pom they had been handed by one of the real cheerleaders. Still, seeing the tankers trying alongside the cheerleaders, the Saunders students in the stands started cheering as well.

"We need something like that," said Pepperoni, coming up alongside her. "We're the school with the best spirit." As they walked Duce Anchovy waved to the Anzio contingent, starting cheers for her there. She wished she had time to properly rally her troops like Kay.

The Anzio group headed towards the VIP stands, where the match handshake would take place. The St. Gloriana. Pravda, and Chi-Ha-Tan groups were already waiting with the judges, who seemed to be content to wait for Saunders to finish.

Slowly, the Saunders group finished up, until only a handful of tankers were left.

"Is that Yukari still going?" said Carpaccio. "What sort of dance is she doing?"

Next to her, Saori stopped, suddenly.

"I… I know that dance," she said. "It's from the Anglerfish festival."

* * *

Yukari, seeing Kay and the cheerleaders trying to boost everyone's morale before the match, had been one of the first to run in along side her, which had caused many of the other Saunders tankers to follow in.

She looked over them all as she danced, trying futilely to follow the routine. Many of them, now, she also considered friends, along side the old friends she had rediscovered. She danced for them all.

She looked over the groups waiting for the match to begin. Her old friends, many of them, once lost, now found again. She looked at Hana and Mako, patiently watching her. She remebered how Anzu had made them all do that ridiculous dance after they had lost to St. Gloriana in the other timeline. She still remembered the moves. As if by reflex, she followed them.

She caught sight of the Kuromorimine delegation, Miho among them, staring in confusion at the cheerleaders. In the match against Pravda, in the other timeline, Miho had used the ridiculous dance to rally them. As the Saunders girls around her walked away, she danced for Miho.

As she danced, she realized someone was next to her, dancing along. Saori, who had once complained the dance would cost her her chance to ever get a boyfriend, had come up to join her.

And then she saw Hana and Mako, running to join them.

Followed by Anzu, then Yuzu dragging Momo.

Then the girls from the volleyball team.

Then the freshmen in the movie club.

Then the History Club girls.

Then the Discipline Committee members.

Then the automobile club members, trying to follow along despite never having done the dance before.

All clumsily, awkwardly, following the steps of the Anglerfish Dance.

And then she saw it. Saw the one thing she had most hoped to see since this whole thing had started.

Miho, though confused, smiling genuinely at the ridiculousness amidst the bewildered Kuromorimine delegation.

Then behind them, she caught sight of something else completely unexpected. Scattered among the stands, the residents of Oarai, standing up and following along with their traditional festival dance.

She kept dancing.

Around her, one by one, the girls of Oarai stopped dancing. She continued until she felt a tug on her sleeve and the call, "Yukari, Yukari! Look!"

She turned and looked to where everyone, from the Oarai girls to the other students to the people in the VIP stand was staring. During the dance, unnoticed by her, a single tank had pulled up to the viewing area and stopped near the Alliance tanks.

A single brown Panzer IV Ausf H.

On the hull Schürzen was the emblem of Oarai Girls Academy.

On the turret Schürzen was a pink Anglerfish.

* * *

Next: Always Advancing XLI: Miracle at Oarai

Author's Notes: One of the self-imposed challenges when writing this was to have a lot of the little bits in the anime that should have been rendered irrelevant by the timeline change. Such as, in this case, the Anglerfish dance.

While I love comments and reviews, I do have a request: please don't talk about the Anglerfish tank in this story in the reviews. I'd rather not have to delete spoilers. You can PM me if you want, though that should really wait for the next chapter, which is written and should be up in a week or two. That won't reveal the whole story, but there is a coherent reason for what's going on.


	41. Miracle at Oarai

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XLI: Miracle at Oarai

by Civilis

* * *

Everyone stared at the mystery tank, although only a few recognized it for what it was. A miracle.

After a minute of silence, a judge walked up to the Alliance command group. "Is that one of yours?"

"Vanilla, are you fine with sitting this one out?" asked Darjeeling, holding the clipboard with the Alliance list.

"Yes, ma'am," said the St. Gloriana cruiser tank commander.

"Then it's ours," said Darjeeling. She struck out a name on the list on the clipboard, wrote down 'Oarai Panzer IV H', and handed the clipboard to Nonna, who nodded and passed it to the judge.

"This is most unusual," said Ami, approaching the group from the VIP area. "Is this one of your stunts, Kay?"

"Nope!" said Kay, cheerfully. "I really wish I could claim credit, but I will admit I do not where that tank came from."

"It's got an animal emblem like your other tanks," Ami pointed out.

"Pure coincidence," Kay replied. "Everyone can see the tanks as they're being set up."

"You certainly accepted it into your list right away," Ami continued.

"We want as many schools as possible to participate," said Darjeeling.

"Renta wants it disqualified," said Ami. "It's not from a valid school."

"The Ministry isn't running this match, the Sensha-Do Federation is," Darjeeling reminded the officer. "It could be that the school simply doesn't want to risk the Ministry's wrath by defying it openly. Perhaps you should check?"

"Yes, lets," came Maho's voice, as she walked over to the group with Miho tagging along behind. The surprise introduction of another tank had obviously confused Miho, but Maho, wearing her usual stoic visage, seemed unfazed.

The group walked over to the parked Panzer IV.

As they approached, one of the turret side hatches popped open, and a head with short blonde hair popped out. It would have been difficult to recognize the girl if it weren't for the thick, almost opaque glasses and cat ear headband she was wearing.

In the crowd, Yukari stared at the girl in shock. "That's… Nekota."

"Looks like she got a haircut," Anzu said from nearby, grinning. "It's a shame. She'd have been rather elegant if she took off the otaku stuff, wore contacts, and stood up straight."

The driver's and gunner's hatches both also popped open. Two more familiar heads poked out.

Yukari grinned and waved. "Momoga! Piotan! Where were you?!" she yelled.

From the driver's hatch, Momoga waved back, before turning to the approaching Sensha-Do Federation judge and holding out a clipboard with papers and her license on it.

"They're certainly wearing Oarai's student uniform," said Saori.

The judge read through the clipboard. Then she did a double-take and read it again. The she waved over Ami, who walked over and took the clipboard. Ami promptly repeated the routine, including the double-take, before turning to look at the group of commanders. Ami then shook her head, took the papers, returned the clipboard, and went to the loaders hatch, where she looked over Nekota's papers before passing them to the judge, who checked them briefly before handing them back to Ami. She then went around to the gunner's hatch, where she checked Piotan's papers the same way.

Finally, Ami climbed up on the tank. The top hatch opened, and another arm in an Oarai school uniform, from a girl still hidden inside the tank, extended out a clipboard and license. Ami read it over, took the paperwork, returned the rest and climbed down off the tank. The judge, meanwhile, climbed up and poked her head in the top hatch to do a quick check of the interior.

She walked over to the group, frowning. "Their paperwork checks out," she said, reluctantly.

"Let me make sure of this," said Maho. "The crew and tank are all acceptable according to both Sensha-Do Federation regulations and the additional rules we agreed on for this match. Is that correct?" she asked.

Ami looked at the Kuromorimine commanders. "That is correct."

"What about the Oarai emblem?" said Kay.

"It is unusual, but it does not violate the rules established for the match to have a tank operating under a different school's emblem, provided the five tank per school limit for the Alliance Team is not violated, which it was not," said Ami. "Still, any commander could file an objection."

"Neither the emblem nor the tank's paint job is likely to get it confused with one of our tanks," said Maho. She turned to her sister. "Still, Miho, as commander, it is up to you."

"It… it is fine," said Miho.

"Anyone else?" Ami asked, then waited. Nobody objected.

"The Sensha-Do Federation will be reviewing everything here," Ami warned the commanders. "Let's keep the rest of the match nice and within the rules."

"I've already reminded Arisa," said Kay.

"Let's get this going," said Ami. She radioed in to the judge team that the tank was acceptable under the rules of Sensha-Do and the match.

The match announcer got on the address system. "The judges have ruled that the Panzer IV from Oarai Girls Academy is permitted to participate. Oarai has joined the United Alliance."

The locals in the audience broke into cheers.

* * *

"Captains of each team, step forward!" cried the Sensha-Do Federation judge.

On one side, Miho and Maho stepped forward.

On the other, Nonna, Kay, Darjeeling, Anchovy, and Nishi stepped forward.

"I'm Chouno Ami, I'll be your referee today. Let's have a great game," the JGSDF officer said. "And keep it fair and legal."

"Both teams, greet!" called the judge.

"Let's have a great game," came the call from nearly two hundred tankers, all bowing towards the opposing teams. The three gamer girls, in their Oarai uniforms, bowed from the hatches of Anglerfish. Their mystery colleague remained hidden.

"Now, get to your starting positions for the match," said the judge. "We wish both teams luck."

* * *

"Let's do a radio check, everyone," said Saori, as the United Alliance team drove out to the start point. Most of the crews were in their tanks, although Caesar rode with an Anzio truck which accompanied the Anzio tanks.

"This is Eagle," said Kay. When the idea had been put forward to use animal call signs to distinguish the alliance teams like Oarai, she'd managed to call the bird before anyone else.

"Ostrich here," said Arisa. She hadn't had a choice of her name. When Kay had seen the tank encased in sandbag armor, she had dubbed it that immediately.

"Roger, Falcon reporting," said Naomi.

"Canary ready, everyone," said Yuuki. The freshmen had argued heavily to be allowed to use their old Rabbit name, but that had been vetoed. They had settled onto another small, cute animal.

"Swan is ready to fight!" said Takeo.

"Bulldog is ready," said Darjeeling.

"Corgi is ready," said Rukuriri.

"Roger, Beagle is looking for action," said Rosehip.

"Greyhound is looking to get going," said Satoko.

"Uh… Carp is ready to charge!" said Nishi. The Chi-Ha-Tan team had been confused by the need for a name and individual emblem, but a team of Anzio artists had painted a magnificent fish in samurai armor on the turret sides.

"Lion is ready," said Anchovy. Technically, it wasn't a Leopon, and it wasn't a name for a German tank, so it was accepted.

"The Wolf is on the prowl," said Erwin. She had let Caesar choose the name.

"Boar is ready," said Carpaccio.

"Chicken is ready," said Pepperoni. "Get it? Chicken? Ready?"

"Weasel, reporting," said Nonna. She'd assigned the obvious Pravda name to the IS-2.

"Shark, ready for action," said Anzu.

"Giraffe, reporting," said Katyusha. The Pravda team had tried to go with a predator theme, but Katyusha had insisted on the tallest animal possible.

"Fox, reporting," said Klara.

"Bear, reporting," said Aleksandra, the girl commanding the IS-2.

"Uh… Anglerfish, reporting, nyan…" Nekota replied, sheepishly.

"Welcome to the Alliance, Anglerfish!" radioed Kay. "Yukari says she's glad you could join us for the finish."

"Hi Yukari," Nekota replied, before pausing. A few whispers could be heard on the radio before she continued. "Uh… she wants to know what our orders are."

In Eagle's turret, Kay turned to Yukari. "All right, there's one person we don't know aboard that tank. And despite the uniform, she's not from Oarai. Do you think it could be someone from Keizoku?" Kay asked. "Those three seem like the kind of oddballs Keizoku attracts."

Yukari hesitated before replying. "I think I know who it is, and I think we can trust them."

"Well, given our plan, if there is something funny going on here, it won't matter much," said Kay. She picked up the radio and set it to the command channel. "Chicken, everyone, Yukari and I think we can trust Anglerfish. They won't be able to take Dalmatian's place in the plan, but we can have hunt independently during the opening stage, then break for the city proper."

"Okay, Eagle," said Saori. Kay switched the radio to the team general channel just in time to catch Saori reading Anglerfish in to the plan. "So, the first radio call is 'Scatter'. When you hear that, head generally ENE, staying away from the main Kuromorimine formation. If you can hit one or two of the enemy tanks, try to do so. Priority is the enemy Panthers. Second radio call is 'Regroup' followed by 'North', 'Center' or 'South'. North is by the Isosaki Shrine, Center is by the town office, South is by the outlet mall. Be careful not to go into the no combat areas; they should be marked. Be aware they may be different from the last time you were here. After that, we're making it up as we go along."

The column reached the start point, where they fanned out to wait for the opening of the match. Once in position, the tanks opened up so their crews could enjoy a last calm moment before the battle.

"Looks like someone else got a haircut," said Yukari, looking at Rukuriri, sitting on the second St. Gloriana Churchill with call sign Corgi. The girl had lost her long hair, and had what for St. Gloriana was a sloppy brown puffball, topped off by a black beret in the British style. Nearby, Darjeeling, Assam, and Pekoe enjoyed a cup of tea.

Arisa and her crew checked their sandbags. Gomoyo, Nina, and Alina did stretches to keep themselves limber in front of the KV-2. At a glance from Nonna, Katyusha joined them.

The Anzio truck stopped nearby the two Anzio Semoventes, and unloaded some of its cargo of tarps on to each, where they were secured. A few camouflage nets were passed out to other tanks. Caesar passed out bottled water from the back of the truck, before sending it heading back to safety.

Yukari turned to Anglerfish. Nekota, Piotan, and Momoga had gotten out and wandered over, but their mystery passenger was nowhere to be seen.

"Nice to see you three," said Yukari. "Glad you could make it. I know a lot of us have questions, but I'm sure we'll understand if you need to keep things quiet."

"It's… it's good to see you again, Yukari," said Momoga, before heading over to see the freshmen in the Movie Club.

Piotan nodded in agreement. "Yes, we missed all of you."

"You guys look to be in decent shape. Working out?" said Yukari.

"Yeah, a little. I forgot how hard it is to load a cannon," said Piotan.

"A lot of us forgot things," said Yukari.

"We're going to say hi to everyone, nyan," said Nekota.

"Can I speak with you a second, Nekota?" said Yukari. "I have some quick questions."

"Sure," said the blonde.

Yukari led her a little distance from the tanks. She then gestured the taller girl to lean over so she could whisper.

"Yes on both," said Nekota, looking shocked, after the questions had been asked. "How did you know?"

"It was a guess. You can relax," said Yukari, "and tell her I said hello." She then headed back to her tank, while Nekota headed back to the Panzer IV.

A helicopter passed low overhead. Yukari recognized it as a JGSDF Kawasaki OH-1 scout helicopter.

"Given how many of the Sensha-Do Federation observation aircraft are booked for university training matches, I heard the JGSDF had offered to help. I guess they could use the practice," said Kay, waving at the helicopter.

A buzz sounded on the radio. "Two minute warning," said Nonna. "Everyone to your tanks."

* * *

"Match begin," came the call in the main observation area. The main screen adjusted to show the team listings for the match.

There were shocks among the audience on seeing the list, especially among the foreign observers.

The American observer expressed the opinion of most of them. "[Are you kidding me? What is wrong with the Japanese Sensha-Do system that they're using a Maus in a high school match? And your daughter is out there on the other team, Georgy. This is crazy!]" he said in Russian. "[And it's an annihilation match! This is impossible!]"

Klara's father did look a little nervous that his daughter would be facing a lineup if anything more intimidating the last. Still, she had seemed more confident this time, more prepared. More importantly, she was happy, surrounded by friends she had made in a foreign land. She was growing up, and it was close to the time she would have to stand on her own.

He turned to look at the Pravda students in the crowd. Strangely, they didn't seem worried. In the front row, a group of the school's commissars, the so-called Discipline Committee responsible for keeping order among the students of the School Carrier, were unfolding a massive banner.

Sodoko had impressed on her fellow Discipline Committee members the precise need for timing when rolling out the banner, and secrecy regarding its contents. Backed by the threat of the Sensha-Do team and the Student Council, the orders had been obeyed to the letter.

The banner read, in large red letters, in both Japanese and Russian, "Go Pravda! Smash the Mouse!"

Catching his counterpart's shocked face, the American turned to look down the stands.

"[Oh my… they knew? They're all completely nuts! Utterly and totally nuts!]" he yelled.

Klara's father, however, smiled warmly. There was only one reason he could think of that the Pravda students would have had the banner in Russian as well. Further, the Pravda students had been placed at one end of the arc of stands, specifically so they could be visible from the VIP section. Klara was sending her father a message through them, that she knew what she was doing, and that she would be all right.

He turned around to the other international observers. "All right," he said in Japanese, the one language he knew everyone present spoke, even if they wouldn't admit it, "I'm willing to bet that the Alliance wins. Anyone want to bet against them?"

* * *

In truth, the Pravda team hadn't intended the message Klara's father; that had been a bonus. They had primarily intended the message for others in the VIP section.

"Well, this is interesting," said Shimada Chiyo, smiling. "For the first time, Kuromorimine brings out its most fearsome weapon as the ultimate surprise, and what happens? The other team boldly announces that they knew about it in advance. And, given that this is an annihilation match, they must have a plan for dealing with it."

"That must be the legendary spy Saunders is rumored to possess," said the head of the Sensha-Do Federation.

"Planning for something like that is one thing, carrying it out is another matter entirely. Pravda was unable to take out any of the Kuromorimine heavy tanks last match, and they had the best shot at it," Nishizumi Shiho scoffed.

"The mere fact that you're bringing that out is a tacit admission that Kuromorimine only wins by having the biggest tanks," Chiyo chided her friend and rival. "Tell me, was that idea yours, Maho's, or the Ministry's?"

"The Ministry's," Shiho admitted. "I don't like it, but they're calling the shots."

"Where did that slimy weasel get to, anyway?" the Shimada head asked, looking over the stands. "He was here earlier."

"He said he had a call to make, though I'm sure he has a phone, so I don't know why he can't call here," the Nishizumi head said, gesturing to the JGSDF General seated nearby, who had called his office to try to get as many of his officers that hadn't made it to the match to watch as possible.

"Well, he's going to miss the good part," said Shimada. "Looks like most of the tanks are about to meet." She gestured to the screen, where footage from a helicopter showed the Kuromorimine wedge of 18 tanks approaching the scattered Alliance line, a lone tank charging forward towards them.

As they watched, the first rounds of the battle were fired.

* * *

Next: Always Advancing XLII: For Duty, For Honor, For Glory

Author's Notes: I didn't realize there actually would be an Oarai Shark team when I wrote this, and the name fit too well to change.

While I love comments and reviews, I do have a request: please don't talk about the Anglerfish tank in this story in the reviews, especially any guesses on the mystery crew member. I'd rather not have to delete spoilers. You can PM me if you want, though I don't promise anything.


	42. For Duty, For Honor, For Glory

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XLII: For Duty, For Honor, For Glory

by Civilis

* * *

As the Kuromorimine wedge approached the United Alliance lines, one lone tank shot forwards out from the scattered Alliance forces toward them.

In the turret cupola of the Chi-Ha designated Carp, Nishi Kinuyo turned towards the Alliance forces, drew herself up as high as possible, and saluted her allies before dropping into the turret and shutting the hatch.

During the planning stages, Nishi had obviously been torn between her adherance to the Chi-Ha-Tan traditions of Sensha-Do and the desire to do what she could for the other schools that had taken her in as a friend.

Which was why her role in the final plan had surprised her. The Alliance needed someone to charge.

Yukari had been the one to take her aside to run it past her. "This is, to put it frankly, a suicide mission. It's vitally important we delay Kuromorimine for just a little bit at the start. We need to get a couple of our tanks in to Oarai proper before their scout gets there."

"Won't they be sending all their tanks charging at us? That's what they did against Pravda," she had replied.

"Not this time. We could scatter from the start and many would make it to the city. They want to get tanks there first, but without our knowledge, to ambush us. If we threaten to expose their maneuver, they'll have to respond, because if we spot them, their ambush fails. That should slow them down."

"We know they are going to ambush us, so we make them think we're going to expose their ambush we already know about? That sounds rather convoluted," she had replied.

"I understand. We can find someone else. Vanilla's Cromwell, Dalmation, would be our next choice, but it's a major target for them so they might go after it too early."

She had thought about it, then agreed. They needed someone to charge. In the end, she would be able to say that she and her crew had charged Kuromorimine's full might. Although she had had doubts since then, most recently right before the match, here she was, charging Kuromorimine.

"Okay, Carp, they're just about in range. Start dodging like we taught you," said Rosehip on the radio.

Her tank was charging Kuromorimine by itself. But she and her crew were not alone.

* * *

"What is that?" said the commander of one of Kuromorimine's flank Panthers, spotting the single tank angling toward the side of the wedge, looking like it would be cutting just past the end of the Kuromorimine line.

The Kuromorimine tankers couldn't miss spotting the Chi-Ha. The Anzio History Club had prepared a massive sashimono for the back of the tank, similar to the ones they had prepared for their StuG in the other timeline, featuring a brilliant rising sun.

Since getting jumped by Pravda's entire force of T-34s, the Panther's commander had been jumpy, especially when she thought of the Pravda ace racing past her, grinning. She radioed in. "One tank, looks like the Chi-Ha. Headed past us towards Route 108."

"Roger," came Miho's voice. "Engage. Try not to lose too much speed."

She ordered her gunner to engage. The Panther opened fire.

"She's jinxing around way too much, and that little thing is much faster than it looks," her gunner told her, after several shots whizzed past the target.

She radioed in. "The Chi-Ha is past me. It's definitely heading to Route 108. It's like they're daring us to shoot it."

Another tanker radioed in. "I think I see the Alliance line ahead, and we know they're good at hiding things. If we turn to engage now, something we didn't spot may have a long range shot at our sides or rear."

"Panzer III," came Miho's voice, "there's a Chi-Ha headed in your direction towards point A80. Stop it before it hits Route 108 and sees the Maus."

"Roger," said the Panzer IIIs commander as she adjusted her glasses.

In the Chi-Ha, Nishi watched as a Panzer III popped up over a rise in front of her. Her gunner fired, but the round failed to penetrate the German tank's armor. The Panzer III fired back, and the Chi-Ha's power shut down, indicating a kill.

The Panzer IIIs commander radioed in. She had been annoyed to be assigned to command a lowly Panzer III on a team filled with Panzerjager and Panthers, but now she could at least gloat in having a kill, even if it was a Chi-Ha. "The Chi-Ha is out. It didn't get close enough to see the highway."

"Good job, Panzer III," said Miho. "Resume your advance."

* * *

"Carp out," Nishi radioed, just after the tank was knocked out. "We were hit by the Panzer III at A80."

"Excellent job, Carp!" said Saori. "Wolf, Boar, and Chicken thank you."

On the map display at the main viewing area, the people in the stands watched as three blue Alliance blocks entered Oarai from the west, where they headed for specific spots and stopped.

Shortly thereafter, two red Kuromorimine blocks, one quite large, entered Oarai from the south. They drove right past the first blue block near the outlet mall without stopping or seeming to notice it at all. A helicopter, high above, panned its camera over the area, but the Alliance tank seemed to be invisible.

"That little bit won't do them much good," said Nishizumi Shiho, confidently. "The main body of their force is about to be hit hard."

Still, nagging doubt began to creep in. The Alliance had known about the Maus, and now seeing both side's actions, it was obvious that they had known how Kuromorimine would employ it from the start. Further, Kuromorimine didn't know its ambush had been exposed and that the Alliance was now able to watch both of the major roads into town via tanks that somehow couldn't be seen from the air.

On the map, the wedge of red Kuromorimine blocks approached a sparse line consisting of about half the blue Alliance blocks. A number of blue blocks had already left, and were swinging around the oncoming wedge. As the two lines approached, more and more blue blocks slipped away.

The commander of the Elefant scanned over the ridge of the dirt bowl the Kuromorimine wedge was advancing across. Unknown to her, it was the very spot where the first rounds of the Saunders vs St. Gloriana practice match had been fired, months before.

Her radio chattered to life. "This is the left flank. I see a couple of dust clouds moving around us, well to the east."

"This is the right flank. At least three fast movers heading east."

"Roger, right flank. That's likely the Cromwells and the Comet. Keep an eye out for hit and run attacks. If they run, we won't catch them," Miho radioed.

"Enemy tanks on the ridge ahead," the Elefant's commander radioed in. "I see a Sherman, the one with the sandbags, a P40, and a Churchill."

She looked closely at the squat green St. Gloriana tank. Its blonde commander in her red coat could clearly be seen out of the cupola, drinking tea.

"The Churchill is the St. Gloriana commander," she added.

"Roger. Hold position. I want the two JagdPanzers from the right flank followed by the two Panthers from rear guard to advance on their position. JagdPanzers should cover the flanks. They're going to try to lure us to an ambush in the canyon. Still, those three are high priority targets. If we take them down, they'll lose three of their command tanks," said Miho.

"Roger," came the replies.

"JagdTiger, Elefant, Konigstigers, once the ridge is clear, advance up it. We're then going to head east, and try to get to high ground that way," Miho continued. "The remaining panzerjäger and flank Panthers should follow. Maho, you have rear guard."

As the leading JagdPanzers approached the rise, the three Allied tanks fired a few rounds, then withdrew towards the canyon. The two slim tank destroyers reached the top, then turned to cover the side approaches to the mouth of the canyon.

"Right flank, clear," came the message from the first JagdPanzer as the two Panthers reached the top.

"Left flank cl… enemy tank!" came the call. It fired once, then took a hit from an enemy shot, which failed to penetrate.

The two Panthers turned to engage. One fired a shot.

"There was a tank under a camo net. Looked like the ace T-34. It ran, leaving the net behind," the JagdPanzer's commander radioed.

"Roger. Keep watch. Panthers, head down the canyon," Miho radioed.

"I see the enemy command group ahead," the lead Panther's commander radioed. "The Sherman and Churchill are driving backward, shielding the P40. Engaging."

In the viewing area, the screen switched to aerial footage of the battle. The Italian tank sped ahead while the other two Alliance tanks formed a roadblock, moving steadily up the canyon in reverse toward apparent safety.

Round after round from the Panthers hit the two reversing tanks. Arisa's Sherman's improvised sandbag armor scattered around the tank as shells knocked sandbags everywhere. The Churchill's heavy armor likewise turned away blows which would have knocked out a lesser tank.

Behind them, however, the P40 wasn't so lucky. One of the Panthers took careful aim, and a shell arced over the roadblock into the back of the tank, sending up a cloud of smoke and a white flag.

The two Alliance tanks stopped. Then they started moving up the canyon towards the two Panthers, slowly but steadily, the Sherman's extra weight keeping its speed even with the British infantry tank.

The two Panthers realized the danger. Their heavy front armor had likewise kept them safe, and their commanders kept them slightly angled to improve their armor. Still, at close range, both of their cornered opponents were threats. They started backing up, then stopped, realizing that there was something behind them.

The JagdTiger had finally reached the ridge. Its 128mm cannon wouldn't be stopped by anything but the heaviest armor, improvised or otherwise. It had moved to the mouth of the canyon to shoot past the Panthers.

The two Alliance tanks shifted their fire. The first Panther's tracks flew off from a hit, followed by those on the second Panther. Kuromorimine could repair the damage, but the two tanks would be out of combat for a bit.

The 128mm cannon opened up. Two shots later, both the Sherman and the Churchill were out of the battle.

"Three enemy tanks eliminated," said Miho. "All tanks, continue advance towards the city. Keep an eye out for ambushes."

* * *

In the viewing area, the three tanks were marked off on the scoreboard. 16 Alliance tanks left against 20 Kuromorimine. And one of those Alliance tanks was an Anzio CV-33. As it was armed only with machineguns, it did not count as an operational tank for victory in the match. What could it do?

* * *

"Panzer III here," came the radio report to the Kuromorimine command. "I see one enemy tank in the west part of the city, point D53. It's the CV-33."

"Roger, Panzer III. We can't have them seeing the Maus. Eliminate the CV-33," came Miho's order.

"They've spotted us," said the Panzer III's gunner, as the little tankette backed out of view just ahead of a shot from the 50mm cannon would have hit it.

"After it," the commander replied, eager for a shot at a second kill. That would be more than most of her teammates would be able to boast. She just hoped they'd forget what she had taken out.

They rounded a corner. "Left, up ahead two streets!" she ordered her driver. The tank dashed ahead, trying to catch its harmless prey.

After a game of cat and mouse, the Panzer III finally cornered the little tankette in front of the outlet mall. A shot from the 50mm cannon was enough to knock the tankette over. "Got the CV-33!" she radioed.

"Good job!" came the sarcastic reply. "You took out a harmless…"

There was the bang of a cannon from behind the Panzer III, which lurched from the impact. Next to her, the fatal white flag popped up.

"Panzer III out!" she radioed, once she had recovered. She looked around. The only other tank visible was the tankette. Its crew had gotten out, and the two girls were trying to push the tank over. She noticed that the tankette didn't have a white flag, and her shot had merely hit nearby, enough to roll the little machine.

She tried the radio. The grace period for radioing in after getting knocked out had expired, so she could no longer inform her team what was going on.

"Who shot me?" she called.

"We did," said a girl in an Anzio uniform with a red scarf around her neck, who had appeared as if by magic. She and another girl with a German officer's coat and hat over her uniform ran over to the tankette, where the four managed to get it back on its tracks using a piece of wood from the back of the tankette as a lever.

The two mystery Anzio girls waved as the tankette rode off. They then ran back toward the stores. On closer inspection, one of the storefronts in the mall was a painted façade on a sheet of thick cloth. The two girls ducked under the cloth, careful to avoid the broken glass which littered the area.

A helicopter hovered overhead, its observation cameras sending the scene back. "Scout 1, requesting permission to switch camera to infrared." the observer radioed in to the military command trailer which had been set up to relay the footage to the Sensha-Do Federation team running the screens.

"Roger, Scout 1, go ahead" came the order from the on-site commander, who had also found himself more and more curious.

The screen at the observation area jumped from color video to show the image from the helicopter's infrared camera, clearly showing the outline of an Anzio Semovente hiding in ambush behind the false storefront.

"Woo! Insurance money!" came the call from a local businessman in the VIP section, obviously the store's owner. He had been discreetly warned by a couple of girls ahead of the battle that his store might be hit, and they had moved most of the stuff from the front of the store ahead of time to allow the Semovente to fit in with minimal damage.

"Ok, we've lost our weakest tank," said Nishizumi Shiho. "We've eliminated is the enemy command group. We're still up, 19 to 15."

"Soon to be 17 to 16," said Shimada Chiyo, gesturing to the screen. The Shimada school head still counted the CV-33, as there was obviously some reason it had been included in the force.

The Kuromorimine wedge, which looked more and more like a blob as the tanks tried to keep together in the narrow terrain, had turned toward the city to catch up with the escaping Alliance forces and squeeze them between the heavy tanks in the vanguard of their main forces and the Maus.

Still, there were some tanks they couldn't protect. The crews of the two de-tracked Panthers had remained with their tanks to get them repaired. They had drilled on track repair until it was second nature. Still, it took time. Time they didn't have.

One girl looked up from the track she was repairing on hearing engine noise from outside the canyon. It was getting louder, fast. "Heads up!" she yelled. "Enemies!" They had left the gunners in the turrets, and had left one turret facing each direction.

The two St. Gloriana cruiser tanks arrived incredibly fast. They stopped hard at the mouth of the canyon. The Cromwell in the lead fired into the rear of the left Panther, the Comet in the rear fired into the rear of the right Panther. The two fast tanks then accelerated away.

The gunners in the tanks poked their heads out of the turret. "Huh? What happened?" one said to the crews, blinking at the speed at which they had been eliminated.

* * *

The shell slammed into the tracks of the Konigstiger on the left flank of the Kuromorimine blob.

"Enemy Firefly, engaging at long range!" the Konigstiger's commander radioed. "Location is approximately point A43. It's withdrawing."

"Roger," radioed Miho. "Left flank team, cover the Konigstiger while the track is repaired. Everyone else, head to point D99."

"We're splitting the force?" radioed Maho.

"It's going to take a while to fix, and we don't want it eliminated while alone. There are enough tanks that a small group can protect the Konigstiger while the rest of us advance to Oarai," Miho replied. "Maho, stay here and take command of them."

"Roger, commander," Maho radioed back.

The Kuromorimine tanks fanned out around Miho as they headed towards Oarai.

* * *

Next: Always Advancing Part XLIII: Giant Slayer

Author's Notes: I've tried to structure the story so that the major developments of the final battle are foreshadowed in earlier chapters. We know from the Pravda match that Kuromorimine likes to move as a formation, and will move towards the flag (or, as in this case, absent a flag, the enemy command group.)

At least this time, Panzer III-chan knows who shot her. She even took out another tank!

Don't worry, Nishi still has a role to play in the story. And she got a gallant charge, and it was even useful!


	43. Giant Slayer

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XLIII: Giant Slayer

by Civilis

* * *

Author's Note: I discovered that Chapter 21 had been published in an incomplete state with a gap where the finale of the battle was supposed to be. I have since published the corrected chapter.

This chapter has had a slight edit thanks to some sharp-eyed readers (TMI Fairy and Felipe CH98)

* * *

"The bridge looks clear," radioed the lead Panther commander as Miho's battle group approached the Naka River at the edge of Oarai proper. While many of the Alliance tanks could have forded the river, it was impassible for the heavy Kuromorimine tanks and low panzerjäger.

"Take it easy between the bridge and the railway. The rules won't let them damage or destroy either, so their heavy gunners will be careful. Still, it's an obvious ambush zone," Miho reminded her troops.

The group headed into Oarai. In the lead, the Panthers watched for enemies around them. Following them, the Konigstiger, Elefant, and JagdTiger started across. The smaller panzerjäger and Miho's Tiger brought up the rear.

"We're going to push forward to Route Two along the coast, then link up with the Maus. Keep an eye on the intersections," Miho cautioned. "There could be an ambush anywhere."

The group made it past the railway without incident. Still, they had missed that a garage door on a house near the railway had actually been a painted heavy cloth. Their enemy could indeed be anywhere…

* * *

The Maus's commander scanned Route Two through her binoculars from her position at the bend at Cape Oarai. After the elimination of the Panzer III, which was supposed to have been bait to lure in the enemy, she had shifted position to where the powerful main gun could cover the major highway through Oarai.

The road west towards the Post Office looked clear. She turned her gaze north.

"Enemy tank, looks like an IS-2, up by the overpass near the shrine," she informed her gunner, then grabbed the radio as the tank's turret began turning toward the target to radio in.

As the turret turned, two of the IS-2's heavy shells bounced ineffectively off of the Maus's impregnable hull armor.

The Maus's main cannon roared.

"IS-2 knocked out!" called the gunner.

"We just knocked out an IS-2 that fired at us," she radioed in.

"Roger, Maus. Head down Route Two towards the post office so we can link up," Miho replied.

* * *

"Bear, out!" reported Aleksandra, the IS-2's commander.

"Roger, Bear," Saori replied. "Boar reports enemies entering Oarai. We'll have to switch to Mousetrap Plan 2. Weasel, you ready?"

"Weasel, ready," said Nonna.

* * *

The Maus started its slow advance down route two. The fact that the Alliance knew it was there and was willing to fight worried the Maus's commander. The sooner she could meet up with Miho's battle group, the better. However, given the Alliance knew where she was now, if they had a plan, they would try it on the way. She ordered the tank's turret to cover the area in front of them.

She was almost at the seafood market when the SU-100 rounded the corner a block in front of the tank.

* * *

Nonna was just as surprised as the Maus's commander to see the enemy tank, or, at least, at such close range. She had expected that the tank would stay in its original location, which gave it a good field of fire in two directions.

She dropped through the hatch into the hull at the same time as the Kuromorimine commander and took the gunsight.

There was a problem. The Maus was huge in her sight. Unlike the tank, her hull-mounted gun had a narrow arc of fire. She adjusted her aim, trying to bring the tank destroyer's gun to bear on her target while the Maus turned its turret towards her.

"We are too close!" she radioed. She fired, blindly, as her driver backed up. Pazomi shoved another shell home.

"Nonna!" yelled Katyusha, in the KV-2. She turned towards Gomoyo and yelled, "We need to get there now! Forwards!"

Gomoyo hesitated. This wasn't part of the plan.

"Do it! That's an order!" yelled Katyusha. She grabbed the radio. "Mousetrap Plan 3 is a go! Giraffe to the rescue!"

"Katyusha!" radioed Klara. "We can't lose both of you!"

The Maus 75mm cannon fired, as the SU-100 in front backed away. The shot tore a crater in the street. The SU-100's return shot bounced off the Maus's front armor.

From another side street, the KV-2 lumbered into view behind the SU-100.

The Maus's 128mm gun fired, hitting the SU-100, throwing it in the air.

"Weasel… out…" came Nonna's voice on the radio.

"Nonnaaaaa!" yelled Katyusha, in shock and rage.

The KV-2 started forwards, towards the Maus.

"Gomoyo… what are you doing?" asked Katyusha.

"The Maus's turret's slow!" the Discipline Committee member replied, angrily. "That thing hurt Pazomi."

The Maus's commander watched the KV-2 lumber past.

"I hope you know what you are doing, Katyusha," said Klara, as she instructed her driver. The T-34/85 known as Fox emerged from the alley where the KV-2 had come from, and fired into the turret of the Maus.

The Maus's commander, feeling the impact, spun back to the front of the tank. "Enemy front!" she yelled.

The gunner, who had been turning the turret around to follow the KV-2, turned back towards the new tank her commander had identified.

Fox's driver threw the tank into motion as the Maus's coaxial 75mm fired, sending its shot into the ground.

The Maus's commander realized that she had lost the KV-2 in the mess. She turned around again to see the KV-2 stopping behind the tank, its turret rotating in her direction.

There was a thundering roar from the Pravda tank, and the Maus lurched from the impact, sending its next 128mm shot off into one of the nearby buildings.

"Ignore the T-34! There's an enemy behind us!" she ordered her crew. The turret began turning again toward the rear of the tank.

There was another thundering roar, and the Maus lurched again, settling noticeably towards the rear.

"What are they doing?" she asked, before dropping into the Maus's turret.

* * *

"What are they doing?" asked Shimada Chiyo in the VIP stands, as the screen showed the KV-2's second shot into the rear hull of the Maus.

"They're immobilizing it," said Nishizumi Shiho. "They can then withdraw and if they finish off the other tanks they'll win. We can't repair the tracks on the Maus in the field."

"I know that," said Chiyo. "The first shot knocked the one track off. Now both tracks are wrecked. They should be leaving before it fires again."

"They've lost their command and control. The Pravda commander was in the SU-100. All four teams are now without a commander. It's only a matter of time now," said Shiho.

"You were so sure about the Maus. Are you so sure about this?" said Chiyo.

* * *

"Good job, Katyusha!" came Klara's voice on the radio. "It's immobilized. We can withdraw!"

Nina and Alina finished reloading the KV-2's gun.

"No!" radioed Katyusha. "This is for Nonna and Pazomi!"

* * *

The Maus's commander opened the view slit in the side of the Maus's turret, then closed it as quickly as if she had been burned.

"Everyone brace!" she yelled. "They're still aimed at us!"

* * *

The KV-2 fired at the side of the Maus's turret. The 152mm shell hit the turret side just above the rear deck.

On the screen in the observation area, the camera image went white from the blast.

The pilot recovered quickly, and the observer got the camera aimed again at the Maus.

A cheer went up in the stands. It started from the Pravda ranks, then from the rest of the Alliance students, then from the fans and townsfolk.

On top of the Maus was a little white flag. The Maus had indeed been smashed.

"16 to 13," said Shiho, though she looked a little less confident than she had before.

* * *

"Approaching Route Two," radioed the lead Panther's commander.

"Roger. Be careful. The KV-2 is still out there," radioed Miho.

"This is Maho. The Konigstiger is mobile. We are heading towards the bridge," Maho radioed.

"I see the Firefly," radioed one of the JagdPanzers. "NW our position. It's going to try for another shot."

"I'll take care of it," said Maho. "Get across the bridge."

The two Panthers in Maho's battle group started across the bridge to check the other side. The two JagdPanzers, the JagdPanther and the Konigstiger covered them from the far side or watched the surrounding terrain.

Naomi caught sight of the Tiger headed her way. She grabbed the radio. "This is Falcon. Maho is after me. The other tanks in her group are headed your way."

"Uh… Falcon, this is Ant… Anglerfish, nya. Do you need help?" radioed Nekota.

"No, I want Maho. Can you hit the guys heading to the bridge?" Naomi replied.

"Uh…. she says ok," Nekota replied.

Naomi popped in her last stick of gum. The Kuromorimine tanks protecting the Konigstiger while it was being repaired had kept her from engaging, costing her a juicy target. Still, Maho would be a better one.

She fired a shot at the Tiger as it came around the building, but Maho's veteran driver kept the tank angled and the shot deflected. Naomi ordered her driver to quickly reposition, and the tank backed off as Maho's shot flew past the turret into a nearby house's front window.

Around another two corners, she managed to get another firing position. This time, Maho stopped just as the tanks front corner came around the building, causing Naomi to miss. She rapidly withdrew before the Kurmorimine driver pulled forward.

At the bridge, the two Panthers indicated that the coast was clear. The JagdPanzers started across. Behind them, the JagdPanther ascended the low slope to the side of the bridge.

Naomi found another firing position. A yellow tank came around the building. Naomi's shot hit the Konigstiger head on, but the 17pdr failed to penetrate the heavy armor. Naomi ordered her driver to run, as she looked around for Maho, only to find Tiger 212 had gotten behind her.

"Clever girl," Naomi managed to say before the Tiger fired into the Firefly. Maho's gunner didn't miss.

"Falcon eliminated," she radioed. "Maho and the other Konigstiger are on their way into Oarai."

She watched as Maho started across the bridge. Behind Maho, the Konigstiger headed to the bridge. Like the other tanks, it took the meter-high slope at the side of the bridge to get to bridge level.

As it reached the top of the slope, a single shot from down the riverbank to the northeast slammed into the underside of the tank near the tracks as it was briefly exposed. The shot blew out the track and several road wheels. The tank's commander, who had been carelessly focused on the knocked-out Firefly, managed to grab the side of the turret ring and held on for dear life as the massive tank went over on its side. Almost as an afterthought, the white flag popped out horizontally next to her.

"Anglerfish. Konigstiger slain," came Nekota's satisfied voice on the Alliance radio network.

* * *

"Konigstiger out!" came the shaky voice on the Kuromorimine radio network. "We're okay, somehow."

"I think it was the Panzer IV," Maho radioed. "Its north of the river. It hit at just the right moment. Your orders, commander?"

"Engage the Panzer IV, Maho," Miho replied. "If it can take out a Konigstiger, it's a threat."

On the bridge, Maho's Tiger turned to engage the new target. She fired, but the Panzer IV backed away. Maho backed the Tiger on the bridge up and turned to pursue.

* * *

"Boar here. I don't see Maho. The JagdPanther is the last in line," Carpaccio radioed.

"Bulldog here. Maho is probably after Anglerfish," came the reply. "Eagle is going to hold its ambush at the Maus. Engage as you see fit, Boar. Your position is no longer needed. We'll hit them from the other side once you've panicked them."

"About time we get to fight! This is Swan. Chicken, can we get your help? We have a plan," radioed Taeko. "Meet us at the Maus."

"Chicken on the way," replied Saori.

"They're in Oarai," came the message from Bulldog. "It's your city. Once we hit their lines, it's going to be tough to command. Hit and run, especially with the heavy tanks."

"Eagle here. Remember the priority is the Panthers. They're easy to kill if you can get hits to the rear armor. Radio if you need help."

* * *

In the observation area, the screen display changed. Aside from the two tanks north of the river, the Oarai Panzer IV and Tiger 212, the rest of the tanks were now in Oarai itself.

On the map, many of the blue Alliance blocks moved to their positions down side streets as the red Kuromorimine battlegroups advanced, Miho's turning on to Route Two along the coast near the post office, Maho's former group just starting south from the bridge.

"15 to 12," Shiho Nishizumi observed.

* * *

Next: Always Advancing Part XLIV: Street to Street, House to House

Author's Notes: Thanks for everyone that has commented. I'm still working on getting the next couple of chapters up to speed.

I had to come up with some way to justifiably take out the Maus without repeating the same million-to-one shot Hana used in the series. Their initial plan was to immobilize the tank by blowing up the tracks with the IS-2 or SU-100, then just leave it. Still, given that Sensha-Do is somewhat a matter of the damage being partially run by computers, the shock of the large round of the 152 on the KV-2 going off where it did is, I think, at least a justifiable technical kill, even if it couldn't penetrate the upper deck armor.

I didn't mean to have yet another of Naomi's potential kills taken away, still, she goes for high-value targets, so there is the element of risk involved.

Someone paying attention will note that, while Shiho and Chiyo are expert Sensha-Do tacticians and thus very qualified to provide running neutral commentary from an omniscient position, they seem to have made a few assumptions which aren't quite true...


	44. Street to Street, House to House

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXXIX: United We Stand

by Civilis

* * *

The first tank to fall as the main battle moved to Oarai proper was the last tank to enter the city, the JagdPanther in Maho's northern battle group.

Its commander had not been paying too much attention to her surroundings. The four tanks ahead of her were more than capable of looking for trouble. There was no other way an enemy could get to her without getting past them until she reached the next intersection. Therefore, the squat green Semovente that pulled in behind her, having been concealed in a garage hidden behind a painted cloth, took her by surprise.

Carpaccio's gunner took careful aim, and fired the 105mm gun on the Semovente into the back of the JagdPanther at close range, knocking it out.

Ahead, the two JagdPanzers, just reaching an intersection, scattered at the report of an enemy tank behind them. The one that went left quickly found an obstacle, an armored wall that pulled out from a side street and blocked its path. It fired, but the shot bounced off the side of the Churchill VII.

From atop Bulldog's turret, where she sat drinking her tea, Darjeeling calmly watched as Assam fired into the JagdPanzer, knocking it out. "Have you heard this saying?" the St. Gloriana commander said with some satisfaction as she watched the white flag pop up, "No trait is more justified than revenge in the right time and place.

* * *

In the stands, where the ambush played out on one of the screens, the more alert members of the audience blinked in confusion, especially the St. Gloriana students. There, on the screen, was a blonde, red coated commander, calmly drinking her tea as Bulldog pulled forward to get a shot at the two Panthers that had been ahead of the JagdPanzers.

Meanwhile, just getting off of a truck that had driven her back from her wrecked Churchill VII, was the blonde, red coated St. Gloriana commander that had been knocked out earlier in the match.

"Geez," said Arisa, walking along beside her, "Darjeeling finally pulls a sneaky trick, and it's nothing more than a hair cut?"

"It's not one of your vulgar tricks," said Rukuriri, as she patted her dyed hair. "I had been meaning to try a different hairstyle. This way, we got something else out of it."

Rukuriri had been surprised that Darjeeling had agreed with her proposal.

"But… you despise that girl from West Kureouji, the one that does herself up like you," Rukuriri had said.

"That girl makes herself look like me because she thinks it makes her a lady. She couldn't be more wrong. You, on the other hand, are a lady, no matter what you look like. I'm flattered you'd volunteer yourself as a decoy," Darjeeling had replied.

She'd gotten a wig ahead of time. Then, the night before the match, she had paid a late night visit to Akiyama Barbers. It had taken some time for Yukari's father to create a reasonable facsimile of Darjeeling's hairstyle, dyed with the plentiful Saunders blonde hair dye. Still, it had worked. She would have it restyled to something original and let it go back to her natural color after the match, but today she would wear it with pride.

"So, basically, I was the only one of our commanders to get knocked out," Arisa said.

The Alliance had known that Nishizumi tactical doctrine called for going after the most valuable enemy assets, such as the flag in a flag match. Three commanders would have been too tempting to pass up, especially because the fourth school, Pravda, had demonstrated it could act without a commander. So that's what they put in front of Kuromorimine's initial wedge, or it least that's what it looked like.

"Hey!' said Anchovy, as she pulled an apron on. She had volunteered to help with the tables at the Anzio food trucks now that she was out of the battle.

"Yes, I know you are Anzio's Duce or whatever," said Arisa, dismissively. "Still, we both know the real value of your tank was your radio operator, Saori. That's why we added the radios to the CV-33 and moved her there, next to her fellow cook."

* * *

The radio idea had been Katyusha's, in a way.

"Is there some place we could put that Anzio radio operator some place where she's most likely to survive?" Arisa had asked the strategists and commanders during one of the planning meetings, held in comfort in St. Gloriana's team office. "I can add radios just about anywhere. I think the Churchills are our most survivable tanks."

She reached back for her soda without looking, and accidentally knocked over the small Pravda tactician, who was pouting because the St. Gloriana team was unwilling to cut down an antique table so she could see easier.

"Sorry, didn't see you there, short stuff…" Arisa half-heartedly apologized.

"Nobody pays attention to Katyusha," she pouted. After a second, she stopped and grinned. "Rather than a big target, we should hide Saori somewhere Kuromorimine won't look for her at all."

"There aren't much tanks that are small and survivable," Assam countered. "Armor usually comes with size. Besides, in most tanks she'd take the place of a necessary crew member."

Yukari picked up the smaller girl and tried to put her one her shoulders, as Nonna did in the other timeline. Despite her strength from months of loading, the smaller girl was a little too heavy and imbalanced on her shoulders, and they both toppled over on the floor, which fortunately was thickly carpeted.

The two Pravda commanders were quickly over to help their fallen strategist. "Fortunately, Yukari managed not to hurt you, " Nonna said, glaring at the Saunders student. "Let me try." She picked Katyusha up and put her on her own shoulders.

"Hey, what about me?" Yukari said from the floor. "It's not like I'm one of those… oh." She stopped, mid sentence. "You know how Pepperoni's CV-33 was so hard to knock out despite it's poor armor?"

"Yeah, but it's useless. It's unarmed…" Arisa stopped in mid-thought as well, and put on her sneaky grin. "Which means that Kuromorimine is going to know they can win without knocking it out, so they might just ignore it entirely, especially if it keeps running away. And the Semovente 75/18 Anzio is bringing is almost totally useless anyways."

"Hey!" yelled Duce Anchovy. "Saori is my radio operator! She's an important part of Anzio's team!"

"She's a vital part of this operation. She's the best radio operator in high school Sensha-Do, and she knows Oarai," Yukari patiently explained.

"You're right," Anchovy admitted, deflated. "You just better return Saori, unharmed."

"Count on it!"

* * *

The Kuromorimine crews were veterans, and had been expecitng an ambush, if not one so well executed, so they recovered quickly. Rather than retreat, they took the Nishizumi school tactics to heart and chose to regroup and attack rather than break off and attempt to traverse Oarai to meet up with Miho's battlegroup.

"I'm engaging two Panthers at the intersection of route 2 and Yokoso," radioed Darjeeling calmly. "I lost track of the other JagdPanzer IV." A shot from one of the powerful cannons on the Panthers bounced off the angled front hull of the Churchill as Assam fired back.

"They seem to be rather annoyed with us," Pekoe added as she slammed another shell into the breach.

"Better us than the rest of the group," Darjeeling replied. "Though Hana's going to be annoyed when she sees what they've done to the flowers in that poor park."

The Panther's next shot missed as the tank shook from a hit from Carpaccio's Siemovente 105/25, which had joined Darjeeling in the intersection.

"I found the PanzerJager IV!" came Rosehip's excited voice on the radio. "She's trying to get around your flank! Have you heard this saying, 'you can run, but you can't run as fast as I can'?"

"I don't think that's a real saying, " Darjeeling sighed.

"I think the Panthers are realizing that this isn't a fight they can win," said Assam, as she fired again. "This is somewhat of a stalemate. They're smart and not giving me an opportunity to hit anything other than their front, and we're doing the same. They'll likely disengage soon."

Pekoe loaded another shell, and Assam fired again. "… and there they go," the strategist said, with some satisfaction."

"Well, follow them… cautiously," Darjeeling ordered her driver. "I hope Kay's group is having more luck."

* * *

Miho's battlegroup had been wary of an ambush even before word of the attack on the other group had filtered in. Still, it represented the bulk of Kuromorimine's remaining forces.

"We're just passing the Maus," reported the commander of one of the PanzerJager IVs at the front of the group. "I don't see anything on the side streets, but it's hard with all this smoke and dust."

"Nothing hiding behind the fish market or on the docks, either," reported the other PanzerJager IV's commander.

Miho had the two smaller tank destroyers in the lead, as they were both faster than the heavy tanks and tank destroyers that made up the bulk of her group and more expendable if it came down to a firefight. Behind them, the heavier PanzerJager, the JagdPanther, Elefant and the JagdTiger, followed along, waiting for the lead scouts to flush out a target. Behind them, Tiger 217 and the surviving Konigstiger watched the sides of the formation. Two Panthers served as rearguard, their commanders alert for an attack from the rear.

Tiger 217 passed the wrecked SU-100 and approached the Maus. Ahead, the JagdPanther disappeared into the veil of smoke that surrounded the giant tank.

"Follow Route 2 around the cape and back toward the river," ordered Miho. "If they don't attack, we'll rejoin Maho's group. Right flank, keep an eye on the hotel and shrine."

There was an awful lot of smoke around the wrecked Maus, mixed in with dust and particles from the damage done to the surrounding houses north of the road and the shops south of the road by stray rounds fired during the attack on the Maus.

As Tiger 217 passed the Maus, Miho caught sight of something unusual. She could barely make out a smoke marker sputtering In the gutter, a few meters from the Maus, as if it had been tossed there. The smoke cloud was an obvious ambush location, but where was the ambush? The Panthers hadn't reported anything, and the front scouts hadn't reported anything. The side street was clear.

She turned to look across the back deck of the Maus at the Konigstiger at the other side, and found herself looking up at a grinning face, almost concealed by the smoke.

Before Miho could act or even figure out what was wrong, things got very loud very quickly. "She spotted us!" yelled Noriko into her radio.

Akebi brushed aside her long blonde hair, and took careful aim. The M5 Stuart's turret and aiming mechanism were different than the Type 89's, but she had adjusted quickly in training. Unfortunately, the choice of practical targets was limited; they had been hoping to get the Panthers into the kill zone before springing the ambush. At this range, the 37mm round from the Stuart was just enough to penetrate the JagdPanther's vulnerable rear armor and trigger a white flag.

The surprise cannon report at point blank range followed by the loss of the tank destroyer shocked the entire Kuromorimine group. Despite being wary of an ambush, they had just lost a well-protected tank from the middle of their formation, and, despite the shock and surprise, reacted as trained by checking their assigned sectors to identify where the shot came from. Miho was the only one with eyes on the culprit, and she had another problem to worry about.

Shinobu gunned the M5 Stuart, perched on the back deck of the Maus. It had been easier to board the massive tank this time because the knocked-out tank hadn't put up any resistance aside from some heavily muffled complaints, and the CV-33 had been a more useful ramp than the Hetzer had been.

They had positoned the Stuart sideways to make a clean getaway down one of the side streets, a task which was aided by the lucky presence of a convenient ramp to assist in getting down from the Maus in the form of Tiger 217.

Miho reflexively ducked in the turret as the Stuart passed over her head in its escape.

The crunch of the Stuart's impact on the pavement managed to alert the rest of the Kuromorimine crews as to the location of the culprit. Both Panthers turned to give chase, and the two JagdPanzer IVs at the front of the formation headed up side streets to cut the light tank off before it could escape.

"I think both the Panthers are after us," Taeko radioed Saori. "They might try to encircle us, but we'll still try to get at least one of them into the second ambush."

"Roger, Swan," Saori replied. "Canary, give them a minute to pull away, and then you're up."

"Yes, mother…" Yuuki groaned with mock sarcasm in the M3 Lee. She relayed the order to Azusa in the cupola.

Two minutes after the destruction of her group's JagdPanther, Miho managed to pull herself together and back into the cupola of Tiger 217 just as the back end of the second Panther disappeared down one of the side streets in pursuit of the fleeing Stuart that had driven over her tank. The three tanks in her group that had not joined in the pursuit were forming a loose circle around the Tiger for protection.

She activated the microphone on her radio, and ordered the three to accompany her along their original course along route 2 to cut off the Stuart's possible escape routes.

There were a pair of metallic clangs from the front of the JagdTiger. "Enemy front! One M3 Lee, down Route 2 at the curve by the Cape!" came the ID call over the radio. The Elefant was in the best position to fire, but by the time it fired, the tank had backed around the curve. Miho ordered the pursuit, again watching for potential ambushes, although the four tanks that had headed down the side streets should give them some advance warning of any ambushes.

Still, there was the uneasy feeling that the battle was slipping out of her ability to control. And yet, somehow, it seemed strangely familiar.

* * *

"This is certainly one of the best matches I've seen in years!" the head of the Sensha-Do Federation cheerfully exclaimed as he sat down in his seat in the VIP section, arms loaded with food and drink.

Nearby, the heads of the Nishizumi and Shimada families both remained fixated on one of the screens. Nishizumi Shiho's sternly impassive face was normal for her, but it was odd to see the same expression on the normally sociable and outgoing Chiyo Shimada.

"Would either of you care for a drink? I got both tea and grape juice." The Federation head extended the tray towards the pair.

Without turning, Chiyo groped for a cup, managing to grab one without knocking it over. She handed it to Shiho, then grabbed another one for herself.

Once he had settled in to his seat, it was easy to see what had the pair so invested. While most of the Sensha-Do fields had been taken for training matches, few of the matches had been expecting an audience, so the Federation had been able to reserve three of the large railroad-mounted screens for the match. The one in the middle showed the overall situation and count of surviving tanks. The one on the left showed a helicopter-eye view of the battle in the city. The two heads were focused on the screen on the right, which showed a helicopter eye view of the last battle outside the city, where a Tiger I and a Panzer IV went at each other with gusto amidst the houses and shops on the outskirts of the city.

As they watched, the brown Panzer IV fired down a narrow street at the yellow Tiger, then moved away before the Tiger could shoot.

"Can you tell what is going on?" Renta Tsuji asked the balding man, as he snatched the last drink from the tray.

"While I'm merely a fan, and not an expert like these two, I think I have a good idea. The Alliance is merely demonstrating the weakness in Kuromorimine's tactics," the head replied. "It's a lot harder to mass your forces in urban terrain."

"There is nothing weak about my family style," growled Shiho, though she remained fixated on the right screen. "Anyone can inflict casualties from ambush. Still, our crews are better trained, and will give us the edge in the end."

"Is that why you're paying so much attention to Maho's fight?" Renta asked.

"Yes, because that is what proper Sensha-Do looks like," Shiho snapped back.

"Proper Nishizumi Sensha-Do, at any rate," Chiyo added calmly. "I never thought I'd see someone taking on a Nishizumi Tiger with a Panzer IV and holding their own, but that mystery crew is very good. And, admittedly, Maho is, as usual, incredibly competent. Almost as good as Alice."

If there was a barb in there directed at Shiho's family, the woman ignored it. "About the only thing they're not doing right is… and the Panzer IV's commander is finally opening the hatch, like a proper commander," she said with some satisfaction.

On the screen, the Panzer IV had put a block of houses between it and Maho's Tiger 212 in a move to circle around the slower heavy Panzer. A girl in a white and green Oarai uniform had taken the opportunity to pull herself up in the hatch for a better view. A light blue and gray floppy hat pulled over her head concealed her face and hair from the cameras.

The Panzer IV rounded the corner at speed. Rather than stop, it kept forward, which caused the shot from Tiger 212 to narrowly miss the turret. The Panzer IV's commander didn't flinch, but her hand could be seen at her throat microphone, shouting orders to her crew. The tank jerked to a crash halt, fired a glancing shot into the Tiger, then jerked back into motion before the Tiger's next shot clipped the back of the hull Schurzen, knocking a piece off but otherwise not harming the tank.

"Is that a Keizoku hat?" Chiyo asked. "That doesn't seem like Mika's style, but you never know with Keizoku. Still, they seem to have studied how Maho fights. I'll make sure Alice studies this engagement… may come in handy next year."

"I still don't see why this part of the battle is so important," Renta griped. "Your crews are getting hammered in the city itself,"

Shiho finally turned on the bureaucrat, angrily. "I'm not doing this for your stupid pride. This is Sensha-Do. My daughters will not fail to do their utmost."

"It's 12 to 12," Chiyo piped in, almost cheerfully.

* * *

Next: Always Advancing XLV: The Steel Trap

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay in posting; Three chapters remain in this battle, one of which is written. Then some post-battle clean up, and the story is finished.


	45. The Steel Trap

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XLV: The Steel Trap

by Civilis

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry this has taken so long; work has me swamped. The next chapter is written and just needs some minor revisions; expect it in a week or two.

I also really really mistimed this chapter; it should have been broken into two. This has been a learning experience for me, and I thank you for your patience and reviews.

* * *

West of Oarai, Anglerfish and Tiger 212 continued to trade fire as they circles around the city's outskirts. For every maneuver one made, the other would have a counter. Most of experienced Sensha-Do tankers in the stands started fixating on the fight, waiting for one commander to make a mistake.

The end, when it came, was suitably dramatic.

Anglerfish shot out of a side street into a parking lot, turret already pointed to the right towards a larger road where moments later, Tiger 212 emerged to have a 75mm round glance off the turret front. For its part, Tiger 212 quickly stopped and fired back, just missing the smaller tank.

As Anglerfish's driver stopped the tank so it's gunner could take advantage of the opportunity, the tank didn't come to rest right away, but slid on the pavement, coming to rest with a small coffee kiosk between it and the other tank. While the flimsy shack wouldn't stop a tank round, it would throw off the precise aim necessary for a killer blow.

In the pause, both commanders stared at each other across the vacant space. In the stands, the watching spectators rapidly went silent.

Maho and the mysterious girl commanding the Panzer IV quietly gave orders to their crews.

Anglerfish was the first to move. With a lurch, it started forwards, circling around the shack to get behind the stationary Tiger.

After a moment, Tiger 212 turned to follow its prey, but barely shifted position.

With a jolt, the Panzer IV fired on the move at the Tiger. Its shot glanced ineffectually off the Tiger's turret front. The Tiger's return shot went wide, hitting the nearby street.

By this point, most of the stands had turned its attention to the fight. The crowd gasped as Anglerfish, its tracks and drive wheels buckling on the pavement, went into a slide perfectly positioned to bring it behind the Tiger for a knock-out blow.

In the VIP section, those gasps were joined by ones coming from the Sensha-Do Federation Head, Nishizumi Shiho and Shimada Chiyo when Tiger 212 jerked backwards in response. Anglerfish's slide brought it, not behind the Tiger as planned, but into the Tiger's side. There was a crunch as Anglerfish's side Schurzen buckeled from the impact with the heavier tank. Tiger 212 continued backwards enough to get its gun clear, stopped, and fired once.

A quiet pop indicated the white flag of a knocked out tank.

"I seem to have underestimated your daughter," said Shimada Chiyo when the spectators had resumed breathing again. "The Panzer IV's crew certainly had the whole 'advance without falter' part of your creed down, but who would have expected that Maho Nishizumi would know precisely when to run away?"

Shiho's reply was cut off by another massive gasp from the audience, followed moments later by the echoes of a massive blast from the town. While the audience had been watching Maho's battle, the battle in the city had escalated.

Unseen by most, on the screen showing the aftermath of her battle, Maho saluted the commander of the mystery tank.

Unseen by anyone, a single girl wearing Kuromorimine gray sitting by herself in the audience followed suit.

* * *

Azusa and the freshmen crew of the M3 Lee known as Rabbit and now Canary had spent their time before the match going over what they remembered of their matches In the other timeline, where they had gone from 'too scared to fight' to 'willing to face off against late war heavy tanks without flinching'. Repeating their feats would require an inordinate amount of luck, and Oarai unfortunately lacked a ferris wheel (or any suitably similar structure inside the zone designated for the match).

There were, however, other opportunities available for a suitably fearless crew.

Azusa winced as there was yet another crunch of metal from the front of the tank as the Lee rammed the front of the JagdTiger for the fourth time, shoving the massive 128mm cannon aside just a second before the super-heavy tank destroyer fired.

Once again, just as it had in the previous battle, the JagdTiger's crew responded by pushing their heavier vehicle forward. It outweighed the smaller American tank by more than two to one, and the reliable Sensha-Do legal engine was reliable enough that it didn't risk a breakdown by facing off in these collisions. There was no way for Canary to win that kind of contest.

Which is something one of Azusa's plans for taking out the behemoth had counted on.

Down in the hull, where she was watching out the side hatch opposite the side of the enemy cannon, Saki gave her commander a thumbs up as the tank passed the bridge abutment of the bridge connecting the Ataetoshiiku shrine with downtown Oarai that passed over route 2. A bridge, unlike the river bridges over the Naka, was a legal target in the tournament.

"Okay, Giraffe! Now!" she shouted into her radio.

There was a colossal boom, the one that shocked the observers in the stands, and a cloud of finely vaporized concrete drifted down from above the tank. The side of the bridge, positioned just above the JagdTiger's gun, lurched sickeningly from the impact of the 152mm shell from the KV-2's howitzer on its upper deck.

"It's still alive!" came Aya's voice from her position on the turret gun, barely audible over the echoes.

"We need to give them time to reload! Karina, do your thing!" Azusa shouted to her driver.

The Lee surged forward with another sickening crunch.

"How much time, Katuysha?" Azusa yelled into the radio. She could understand how much the gun on the KV-2 took to load. As good as Nina and Alina were, the massive gun took seemingly forever to load.

Unfortunately, not all plans survive contact with the enemy.

"Giraffe out!" came Katyusha's voice. "A Panther found us!"

Azusa was faced with a problem. They'd counted on the KV-2 breaking the bridge in one shot. Two was pushing it, and now they didn't even have that. Still, the JagdTiger needed to go down and they had a chance to do it.

"Aya, Ayumi, when you get reloaded, we're going to back up fast enough to try shooting the bridge enough to knock it down. Karina, you'll need to…"

On hearing her name, Karina threw the tank into reverse immediately. There was a clang as Ayumi fumbled with the 75mm shell she was trying to load.

Ahead of them, the JagdTiger took aim at the fleeing tank.

"Karina, left!" Azusa shouted, realizing too late that the tank was going backwards. "No… riiiiii…..!"

Karina's wild evasion managed to throw the JagdTiger's gunner's aim off just enough that the shot missed.

"Stoooooooppp!" hollered Azusa, and the tank slammed to a halt. The 75mm cannon boomed once, its shot thudding into the cracked concrete holding the bridge up, but the bridge managed to hold.

With an anti climactic pop, Aya fired the 37mm cannon into the concrete.

With a creak, the metal beam holding up one side of the bridge slid out of the concrete and down onto the JagdTiger's cannon with a clunk, bending it fatally out of alignment. Seconds later, there was a puff of black smoke from the top of the tank, followed by the white flag popping up.

"One heavy down, two to go!" Azusa joyfully reported on the radio.

* * *

Further south, where Darjeeling's group was attempting to finish off the last of the straggler's from Maho's group, Rosehip let out a yell of excitement from her vantage point atop the turret of the Comet known as Beagle. "Found one!" she cried, before picking up the radio. "I see the little tank destroyer at intersection…" she started, only to abruptly stop mid sentence as she realized that she wasn't sure where she was. She could see the PanzerJager IV making its slow escape … at least by her standards as a cruiser tank commander.

"We're at intersection 15," Yuzu calmly informed her commander. It had taken a bit of adjustment to get used to the rose-haired girl's energetic command style, but in the end it had helped both of them.

"Careful, Beagle, we don't know where the Panthers are," Darjeeling radioed back to her energetic subordinate. "They might be headed towards the other Kuromorimine battlegroup or might be trying to circle around."

"Right, right. We'll circle around and get them from the west at the next block, which I think is intersection 18." Rosehip acknolwedged, before passing on directions to Yuzu.

In one important way, Yuzu thought, Anzu and Rosehip had a similar nature; both were willing to charge forward regardless of the odds. In the other world, Anzu had boldly staked her school on being able to produce a Sensha-Do team, and against both Pravda and Kuromorimine had charged into the enemy lines when necessary, to the point of ramming the Maus. Anzu had trusted her lifelong friend Yuzu to drive her into danger, knowing the more sensible assistant would know how far she could go… and, just as importantly, when to stop.

It was that realization that saved the Comet, as it rounded a block of houses to finish off the surviving PanzerJager IV of Maho's group. Yuzu sensed something was wrong and stopped just before Hana would have been able to fire, causing the shot from the Panther lurking nearby to slam into a building precisely where the tank's turret would have been.

As the Comet reversed back to the parallel street, Rosehip wobbled in the turret cupola, before grabbing the rim to steady herself. "I found a Panther!" she radioed in, "we're going to go ahead another block to intersection… 23, I think, and finish it off!"

"Have you heard this saying?" Darjeeling radioed back. "Manners require time, and nothing is more vulgar than haste."

The Comet shot forward another block, treads clattering all the way, then turned and dashed down towards the road the retreating Kuromorimine tanks were taking. Yuzu threw the tank around the corner. Ahead, the tail end of the PanzerJager IV could be seen turning down one of the side streets that branched off, but the Panther wasn't visible.

Carpaccio's voice came on the radio. "This is Boar, approaching Intersection 15. I see some movement ahead. Is that you, Beagle? No… it's… Beagle, watch your back, the Panther's at Intersection 18! I'll try to knock it out!"

Darjeeling's seemingly calm voice barely concealed her exasperation at the confusion. "Wolf, advance in and help take care of the problem, please."

"Ave, Wolf advancing!" came Caesar's reply, the concern for her old friend evident in her voice.

Rosehip turned around as Yuzu reflexively slammed the tank into motion. Off in the distance the booming of the Siemovente's 105mm cannon could be heard as Carpaccio's gunner fired at the Panther.

Yuzu rounded the corner onto the street. Ahead, the Panther unexpectedly and quickly backed across the road, being practically pushed by the short Italian assault gun right in front of it. Both the Panther and the Siemovente fired again, but due to the close range and chaotic pushing, both shots went wide. Behind her, Hana held her fire, unwilling to risk hitting a friendly.

There was a sudden, unexpected shot from somewhere, followed by an explosion on the far side of the assault gun, which was shortly thereafter accompanied by the dreaded white flag popping up.

"Boar… out!" radioed Carpaccio.

As the smoke cleared, from her elevated vantage point Rosehip could make out the second Panther in Maho's group, which had emerged from the side street on the other side of the assault gun. At the same time, the first Panther started forward again, pushing the disabled assault gun back to bring its weapon to bear against the startled tank.

Hana fired as Yuzu started backwards, causing the shot from the Comet's 77mm round to glance off the near Panther's turret side. The far Panther, shielded by the knocked out Siemovente, pulled forward and started heading to the roadblock to assist.

When the sound of a cannon shot reached her, Rosehip flinched, but there was no corresponding impact on the Comet. In fact, a moment later, it was the near Panther which had a white flag pop up.

"Veni, vidi… vici," came Caesar's confident voice on the radio. "One Panther vanquished!"

"Make that two!" came an unexpected voice. A second later, the boast was made good as the Panther lurched as a round took it from behind. A moment later, as the white flag popped up on the Panzer the Cromwell designated Greyhound pulled up next to the tank. In the turret, Satoko Nakajima waved at her fellow St. Gloriana speed freak commander.

"Anyone see where the PanzerJager got to?" radioed an exasperated Darjeeling. "We still have one more tank to worry about."

There was a loud cannon shot and the sound of an explosion from the side street where the History Club's Siemovente had fired on the Panther.

"Wolf out… got hit from behind," radioed Erwin, who had taken the microphone back from Caesar.

Rosehip looked at the street. The Panther and Carpaccio's wrecked Siemovente formed a formidable roadblock.

"Ok, Chicken, Intersection 18 is closed! We're going to run down the stray with Grayhound!" the rosette radioed.

Yuzu started the Comet forward, while off to the side, Rosehip could make out Nakajima shouting down orders to Tsuchiya in the Cromwell. Between the two St. Gloriana tanks, Carpaccio waved from the hatch of the Siemovente.

Ahead was an intersection. Going right would take them to where the shot that had taken out the History Club had come from, but she could just make out a low yellow form escaping away to the left. Obviously, the Jagdpanzer IV was faster than it looked. "Left, Yuzu!" she shouted down into the turret, then she got on the radio. "I see them escaping past Intersection 27, Grayhound, head around and try to make sure they don't escape."

The Comet rounded the corner at speed to see the low tank destroyer making its get away. Rosehip grinned as the Kuromorimine commander in the tank finally checked over her shoulder and caught sight of the faster pursuit.

"Greyhound here. Are you sure? I caught a glimpse of them around intersection 11," Nakajima's puzzled voice replied.

"I'm sure!" Rosehip replied. "Get them, Hana!"

The tank came to a crash stop, and Hana expertly put a round into the tank destroyer's rear armor. The Kuromorimine commander could be seen sighing dejectedly as the white flag popped up next to her.

"We got them!" Rosehip radioed the group.

"Good work!" Darjeeling replied. "I'm almost at 27 myself. Let's regroup there…"

She was interrupted by Nakajima screaming into the microphone. "Problem! Maho!"

Tiger 217 had made it back to rejoin the fight.

Rosehip could hear the shots in the distance, even as Darjeeling's Churchill joined up with the Comet. It wasn't too long before one final shot was heard, followed by the dejected report "Greyhound, out!" from Nakajima. "She's escaping the other way towards Miho's group. Good luck, you guys!"

In the Churchill, Darjeeling switched to the central command frequency. "We managed to take out the enemy group, aside from Maho. She's headed your way. How are you doing, Kay?"

* * *

In the cupola of the Sherman designated Eagle, Kay struggled for a good response to Darjeeling's request. "Have you heard… something… disorderly orgy? Anyways, Bulldog, we've caught Kuromorimine with their skirts down, and we're going to kick them in the…"

The rest of her comment was drowned out by the firing of the tank's gun. In the turret, Yukari slammed a shell home.

"No need to hurry!" Kay yelled down, grinning of the satisfaction of the smoking scar on the rear armor of the Konigstiger in front of her, the disbelief on the black uniformed commander in the tank's turret, and most importantly the little white flag on top of the huge tank.

Kay picked up the radio as the tank began the process of turning around on the narrow side street. "We lost Swan and Giraffe, but we've taken care of one Panther, the other Konigstiger, and the JagdTiger. More importantly, we've closed intersections 33 and 34."

"You can also cross off one JadgPanzer," added Anzu. "Though I wasn't able to get it where it really blocked the street."

Remembering the first rule of battle, 'No plan ever survives contact with the enemy', the Alliance hadn't really had a defined plan for what to do when the main battle reached the city, more of a general tactical guideline. It was easy to get lost in Oarai's narrow back streets, especially if you didn't know them. It was also easy to get confused as to where you were. And it was especially difficult on the big, heavy Kuromorimine tanks. Finally, of course, there was "No running away in the Nishizumi style".

With every heavy tank knocked out in the back allys of Oarai, the streets were becoming more maze-like… and only the former Oarai students knew the way around like the back of their hand.

"What happened to Swan?" radioed Saori. "I didn't get a call from them."

"I think their radio got knocked out, given how hard they got hit," Kay said. "Still, they did exactly what they needed to. I owe them a lot, and the Volleyball Team a lot for letting them help us…"

* * *

A few minutes earlier, Noriko Isobe found herself surprisingly grateful to Kay; Sensha-Do was a perfect test of guts, after all.

Another round from the Panther trailing the Stuart slammed into a nearby house.

"I wish this tank had a machinegun in the turret rear like the Duck had so I could at least shoot back," Akebi groused.

"I wish the Panthers were slow like those St. Gloriana tanks," griped Shinobu from the driver's position.

"Less complaining, more guts!" Noriko encouraged her teammates. "You weren't this scared when we practiced!"

"We could always use our secret anti-Rukuriri hiding spot. Kuromorimine doesn't know about that…" suggested Takeo.

"Too far away, and it never worked, for us at least. And don't suggest a duck head. We don't have that, either," Shinobu replied as she dodged around the corner ahead of another shot. "They're trying to encircle us."

"We need a hiding place," suggested Noriko.

"We could always make our own," said Akebi, as the blonde gunner hefted a trio of smoke markers. "Though we're almost out… this is all we have."

Noriko checked her map. "Tell Kay, we're going to try to block 33," she told Takeo, who passed it on. Meanwhile, Noriko stuck her head out of the turret and lit the smoke markers.

She dropped the first one at a left turn in the back street just as Shinobu dodged around the corner.

"There's a carport to our left… pull in there, quickly!" Noriko ordered. Shinobu quickly pulled into the spot. Mercifully, there was no crunch to indicate the spot had been occupied… most residents had wisely moved their cars from the battle zone. Noriko dropped the second smoke marker into the street nearby, where it filled the road.

She hefted the third flare. It wasn't a volleyball. It was about as aerodynamic as a stick. Still, she served it as hard as she could. The smoke marker lofted majestically over the carport and into the street beyond. Noriko then dropped into the turret.

There was a crunch of masonry as the Panther took the turn at the first marker poorly and clipped a wall. Noriko held her breath. Through the vision slit, she watched as the Panther passed through the second marker's smoke, its commander fixated on the smoke from the third marker in the distance and not the small tank in the carport.

On her commander's signal, Shinobu quickly pulled the Stuart into the road behind the Panther.

It didn't take long for the Panther's commander to realize she'd been tricked, especially when the Stuart emerged from the smoke behind her, but it didn't matter. All she could do was call for help on the radio as the tank's long gun smacked into nearby buildings trying to turn around.

Akebi fired a round into the tank's rear armor, causing the Kuromorimine commander to slump dejectedly as the white flag popped up.

"34 blocked, one Panther spiked!" Takeo radioed triumphantly.

"Be careful, Swan, another Panther headed your way," Anzu radioed.

"We're going to try to get to 33!" Takeo radioed.

"Excellent play, I'll meet you there," came Kay's voice in reply.

Shinobu deftly turned the small tank around on the narrow road and headed back the way they had come. Atop the Stuart's turret, Noriko kept a lookout for the other Kuromorimine tanks that had been trying to track down and eliminate Swan, a task made easier by the size of their opponents.

As the tank approached the last curve before the intersection, she dropped into the turret. "I think there's something ahead. I saw the top of at least one street light fall over. Akebi, get ready. Shinobu, prepare to shoot."

The tank rounded the corner, and Shinobu immediately slammed the vehicle to a stop. Reflexively, Akebi fired.

Takeo picked up the microphone. "Swan here… Konigstiger's at Intersection 33! It's trying to make the turn. We've been lucky, but I don't think guts are going to help us."

"Keep 'em occupied, team!" Kay replied. "You've played a great game… we can at least make sure we get as much as possible."

The 88mm round from the the Konigstiger caught the Stuart in the side of the turret. The impact lifted the light tank up and threw it on its side into the wall of a house at the edge of the street. One white flag popped out the bottom of the tank into the street, the other popped into the house, adding a tiny bit to the destruction inside.

When Noriko had recovered from the impact, she looked around the darkened interior of the Stuart. The other three girls had braced for the impact, and so were merely bruised from the fall. "Was that a good game or what?"

From the drivers seat, Shinobu managed a "that was a great rally."

"We still have guts," Akebi added from her spot on the side of the turret.

"Let's hope the rest of the team can keep it going for the win," Takeo added, holding the severed microphone cable.

* * *

The Konigstiger's commander stared at the pitiful light tank as it lay knocked out in the dust from the building she had knocked it into. They had expected the urban combat to be tight, but not this tight. The light tank in front of her had managed to kill a Jagdpanther and a Panther. Still, the remaining Kuromorimine tanks were the toughest. There was no way she was going down without a…

She was startled by the report of a Sherman's cannon from behind her tank.

As she turned around to see Kay's grinning face, the fatal white flag popped up next to her.

* * *

In the T-34/57, Anzu marked an X on intersection 33 as Kay related the end of the second Konigstiger. She was glad to have that off the list of worries; aside from the Nishizumis in the Tiger Is, the Konigstigers were Kuromorimine's pride and joy, reserved for the best commanders.

"Keep an eye out for that Panther," she ordered Sodoko, who was observing from the tank's cupola. "Miho has to realize that she's almost completely boxed in, and now the only ways out are past us, past Klara in Fox, or past Azusa in Canary," she explained. "If you were Miho, what would you do?"

"Our Miho would have probably split up," Sodoko replied. "I don't know what this Miho will do."

Surprisingly, it was Mako that replied from the driver's compartment, and in a way that was unusually forceful. "You can't think like that. This Miho is our Miho. She may not remember, but she is still a genius, and that unusual creativity is still there. I think she's going to do the same, once she links up with Maho. Klara's route gets her back into the open the fastest. She's got to realize we're boxing her in, so I think she'll use the last Jagdpanzer to try forcing out any defenders there, because she can push past it or drive over it if need be. She'll send the others through the more convoluted routes."

"Since when have you been a tank tactician?" Sodoko asked.

Mako's hand thrust a book on Sensha-do back into the tank's main compartment. "I'm a quick learner. It's one of the things I've been studying when I should be in class."

"All right, I trust you," Anzu confidently replied, before picking up the microphone. "Klara, keep an eye out for the JagdPanzer IV."

"You want me to what with the JagdPanzer IV?" came back Klara's reply.

"Let me see the microphone," said Mako, sticking her hand back and grabbing. Anzu pressed it into her hand, and the hand withdrew into the driver's compartment, with the cable following.

A few moments later, the microphone was shoved back. "She understands," Mako replied.

Anzu's smile was cut off by Sodoko. "I think I saw Maho a block up. She's headed to the others."

"Ok, everyone, we're about to see if we can close the trap on the last of the Kuromorimine tanks," Anzu radioed. "If this works, we'll be able to force them to take a route we have covered through Oarai, either past us or past Canary where we can wipe them out."

"Kla… Fox here. I see the JagdPanzer IV. I'll stop it. At road intersection 44."

"Mako," said Anzu, but the normally lazy girl had already thrown the tank into motion.

The T-34's suspension took a beating, but Mako's expert driving threw the tank around every corner almost perfectly, past the houses and shops of Ōarai.

"Panther ahead! Intersection 42!" Sodoko called from the turret, before dropping into the turret where Anzu was already at the sight.

"They're not yet in the intersection, because they're looking for us. Let's plug the leak!" Anzu called.

With a "heh", Mako slid the T-34 to a stop in front of the yellow Panther, with the 57mm cannon almost pressed against the turret ring. The side Panther's long gun clanked against the side of the green Pravda tank's turret as Anzu fired. Sodoko slammed a shell into the gun as Mako sped off.

"You know we should…" Sodoko called out, but Anzu waved her off.

"There are two roads past Canary. They can't possibly block both of them, no matter how the fight turns out. We need to make sure we get Klara backed up."

The tank round the corner leading to intersection 44. Ahead of them Klara's T-34/85 had rammed the JagdPanzer IV into the corner of a building at the intersection, the green tank itself lay across the center of the junction, where it was trading fire with Maho's Tiger. As Anzu watched, Maho's shot slammed into the lower hull of Klara's tank, knocking it out.

"Fox, out!" came the radio call.

"If the JagdPanzer IV can pull out, Maho will be able to squeeze past," Anzu informed her crew. She took careful aim, and pulled the trigger.

The gun didn't fire. Instead, a yellow light on part of the Sensha-Do hit tracking system came on.

"Not good. We were practically in the Panther when we fired," Anzu called out. "We must have damaged something." She smacked the system and a light labeled reset started blinking. "Looks like it's resetting."

Ahead of them, the JagdPanzer IV had almost squeezed out of pin between the building and Klara's T-34/85. Behind them, Maho could be seen in the turret of 217 over the top of Klara's tank. Klara herself opened the hatch, climbed up and waved at Anzu.

The reset light on the T-34/57's systems went out, as did the yellow firing fault light.

Anzu took careful aim, and fired into the near front drive wheel of the JagdPanzer IV, blowing it clean off the tank. Sodoko loaded another shell, and she fired a second shot into the first two road wheels.

"They're not getting out this way," Anzu radioed. "44 is closed!" After some prompting from Sodoko, she added "and we got the Panther at 42."

She turned to her crew. "Now, we just need to back up Azusa in Canary, and hope our gun doesn't go out again."

"On it," said Mako, and the T-34/57 pulled away.

* * *

In Canary, the Movie club freshmen were faced with two enemy tanks. She'd found the Elefant, but also Miho herself in Tiger 212. The Elefant was trying to slip out of the net, while Miho had turned her attention to the Lee.

"Like, I think we should back off," said Aya from her station at the 37mm cannon. "We can't take them both."

Azusa's yell from the top of the tank cut through the echoes. "No! We're not running away this time! We are Rabbit team, Ōarai's… and now, Saunders's premier heavy tank hunters! Aya, keep Miho distracted! Ayumi, don't let the Elefant get away!"

The Lee's turret opened up on Miho's Tiger with both a shot from the 37mm into the turret, causing Miho to duck into the turret, and then a burst from the machinegun to keep her head down.

"Uh… Saori says…" Yuuki attempted to interject, but was unheard in the din.

On the 75mm, Ayumi took careful aim at the loading port at the rear of the Elefant past Miho's Tiger and fired once.

A second later, an 88mm round from Miho's Tiger hit the Lee, shaking the crew and causing the tank's systems to power down.

"Did we get them?" Azusa asked.

"I don't know," Aya replied. "My glasses fell off when we got hit. I hope they didn't…"

Wordlessly, Saki handed her the glasses, with their cracked lenses.

"Why? Why, every time, do my glasses break? I even paid extra for shatterproof lenses!" she sighed, holding the cracked pair.

Azusa pulled herself up in the cupola and opened the hatch, then climbed out into the fresh air. Ahead, Miho, who had once again unbuttoned herself in Tiger 217, looked back down the cross street in puzzlement. Behind her sat the Elefant, with a scorchmark over the loading hatch and a glorious white flag on top. "We got them!" she yelled down into the tank.

"Like, that's great," came Yuuki's sarcastic reply, "but Saori says we managed to block every road around the Tigers. There's no way for the others to get to them without leveling Ōarai."

* * *

In the stands, the judges and observers had realized the same thing. Both of the Nishizumi Tigers were stuck in a long block of Ōarai backstreets. All five roads out were blocked, by the Lee, the Elefant, the Konigstiger, a Panther, and Klara's T-34/85 pinned with its JagdPanzer IV. Capt. Ami Chouno furiously skimmed through the rules to make sure she knew what to do.

The head of the Sensha-Do Federation got up and ambled over. "I don't think we've had this happen in a while," he mused. "It's one of the problems with urban battles. What's the official rulebook say?"

The JGSDF officer pointed to the rulebook. "It's up to the judge's discretion if the match is unable to continue for any reason. If there's no way to resume the match, the judges can either declare it a draw or award a technical victory, though that could be appealed to the Federation." She handed the book to the Federation head, finger posed on the indicated rule.

His eyes darted back and forth across the page, and the edges of his mouth curled up into a slight smile. "And your opinion as head judge is?"

She smiled, and lowered her voice to avoid being overheard. "The Alliance has four operational tanks to Kuromorimine's two, and that's not including the tankette. Based on numbers, it's an Alliance victory."

Apparently, it wasn't enough to keep their discussion hidden. "Absurd. My daughters will not be defeated though such underhanded tactics," growled Nishizumi Shiho angrily as she stood up and headed over to the pair.

"It's obviously a draw," added Renta Tsuji. "And a draw is not a victory. Let's end this farce."

"The rules don't give outside parties a voice," the Federation head interjected. "They do say that the team commanders should be consulted. Let's hear from the girls."

* * *

In Eagle, Kay's radio piped up on the match control frequency, used by the judges to communicate with both teams. "This is Captain Chouno, head judge. We have a situation where the current match cannot continue. We'd like to call the match."

"No!" yelled Yukari. She grabbed for the radio, held in Kay's hand.

Kay awkwardly grabbed Yukari in a one handed hug, managing to do so without hitting the gunner.

"Can we have a minute to talk it over?" she radioed back.

"Of course."

She started to ask Yukari what was up, but was cut off by Saori's voice on the radio, on the team frequency. "This sucks. I thought we were in a good position. Is that what you're thinking too, Kay?"

"It's Yukari; she's a bit upset," Kay replied.

"No…" stammered Yukari. Kay held the microphone up to her. "We… we need to beat Miho. Beat her for real. To… to prove this is real… is not an illusion."

"We could still lose," Kay replied. "Renta doesn't care about the honor of the match."

"Don't worry about Renta and the Ministry," Anzu's voice replied. Her voice somehow managed to convey her usual smug smirk. "We're not doing this for him."

"Darjeeling? Roseh…?" Kay asked.

Rosehip's quick voice came on the radio before Kay had finished speaking. "Hana wants to keep going, though I'm certain it would take her a lot longer to come out and say it, and I'm sure Yuzu thinks the same thing."

"Have you heard this saying? 'Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure'."

"I guess we're all in agreement, then," Kay concluded.

Kay pressed the microphone into Yukari's unresisting hands, and switched the radio to the match channel. "Why don't you do the honors, Yukari," she said, gently.

* * *

"We… we want to keep going," came a voice on the radio that some of the adults recognized as one of the Saunders tankers that had been in the fateful Ministry meeting. "We'd like a cease-fire, for one hour, and they can pull some of the damaged tanks out."

Capt. Chouno looked at some of the Federation recovery staff. "That's not a lot of time," the recovery chief said, "but it's not impossible. Most of them aren't really seriously damaged."

The voice came back on, sounding a bit more sure. "We'd like to finish this Sensha-Do match, properly. What do you say… Miho?"

There was a long pause.

The radio crackled back to life. "I'd… I'd like to finish the match as well," said the unsteady voice of Kuromorimine's commander.

"No!" Renta fumed. "This has gone on too long already!"

"Renta, I don't know why you're so invested in this match," Shiho said quietly, "but this isn't some round of Ministry politics, this is Sensha-Do. Stay out of it."

There was another pause before the radio came to life again.

"I… I've had… had fun," said Miho.

* * *

Next: Always Advancing XLVI: Their Finest Hour

Author's Note: One of the problems with writing this battle is that virtually all of the Alliance tanks are crewed by named characters we've gotten to know and like from the series, and they all deserve some amount of screen time. And next chapter allows me to give some of those who's participation in the battle was unfortunately short a starring role...


	46. Their Finest Hour

Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XLVI: Their Finest Hour

by Civilis

* * *

The call went out over the radio. "The time is now 1330. A ceasefire is in effect for one hour. Tanks will not move during this time except under supervision of a judge. Minor repairs using on hand parts and materials may be performed. We will send a radio signal at 1425, five minutes before the end. At that time, Tanks may restart their engines and adjust their turrets, but may not move. Battle will recommence at 1430. Participants on the field are reminded that they may not communicate with those off the field without the judge's approval."

In the concession area, Anchovy turned to Momo. "I hope they know what they are doing. We could still lose this. Renta won't care that we could have won."

"Still, we'll have the public on our side in that case," said Momo. "Besides, we get to sell more food."

"I thought you hated helping with that?" Anchovy replied.

"I'm a lousy tanker. I may as well do something right," Momo replied. Anchovy could tell her assistant was starting to get nervous, especially having to sit by while the fate of the team played itself out nearby without her.

"You've been helping us a lot. Go ahead and take a break. Check your email or something," said Anchovy, hoping to get Momo to calm down.

Momo got her bag from the Anzio truck and sat down at one of the tables in an area off to the side where most of the knocked out Alliance crews were watching the match. Anchovy placed a glass of water in front of her. "I'll get you some fresh pasta."

Momo pulled her phone out of her bag. There was an email from someone she didn't recognize, someone with a Ministry of Education email address. She opened it up.

Her shout got Anchovy running to her side. "Momo? What is it?"

"That bastard betrayed us! That… complete and total slime!" she yelled, catching the attention of most of the Anzio staff and Alliance crews.

"Who? What?" said Anchovy.

"Renta! The Ministry is cancelling all funding for the Sensha-Do programs for us, Saunders, Pravda, St. Gloriana and Chi-Ha-Tan. Someone in the Ministry leaked it to us. Guess he's a jerk to his own people."

"Is there anything we can do?" Anchovy asked.

"I've got something. Anzu's secret weapon," she pulled the envelope from her bag. "She sent it to me before the meeting at the Ministry. But…" she said, looking down.

"But?" asked Anchovy.

"But… I don't think I can face him. You know me, I panic easily. This is something for Anzu, or even Yuzu," Momo said. Tears started to leak out of her eyes. "We can wait for one of them."

"That's assuming we win," said Anchovy. "And he might run away if he knows he's going to lose rather than face criticism in public. Momo, you have to do it. Take Anzu's weapon and go confront him!"

"I…. I can't," cried Momo

"She trusted you with it. She trusts you. I trust you," said Anchovy. "Are you scared?"

Momo nodded.

"Every time I go out on stage, I'm scared, too," said Anchovy. "You have to face it. You know what I do… wait. I have an idea."

She took off her cape and laid it over Momo's shoulders, then fastened it.

"But… your cape…" said Momo, realizing what was going on.

"I let you wear one before. You can wear it now," said Anchovy. She turned to one of the Anzio students waiting tables. "Get me my bag from the truck. And bring me a beret."

Moments later, the bag and an Anzio uniform beret had been brought. Anchovy set the beret on Momo's head. From the bag, she produced her riding crop and put it in Momo's hand.

"There. Now you're Momochovy, personal assistant to Duce Anchovy of Anzio. Stand up," Anchovy said.

Momo hesitantly stood up. It was more of a half-controlled slouch.

"Stand up straight," ordered Duce Anchovy.

Momo automatically stood up straight.

"Stop crying," ordered Duce Anchovy.

Momo sniffled, once, but the tears seemed to slow down.

"Now, march over there and give that jerk a piece of your mind," ordered Duce Anchovy.

Momo stiffly walked over to the VIP section of the stands.

"I'm sorry, you aren't allowed inside," said the local police officer at the entrance.

"Stand aside. I have business with the Ministry," ordered Momochovy.

The police officer stood aside and let Momo past. Watching, Anchovy smiled.

Momo walked past the foreign observers and the local dignitaries, all of which watched with interest as she walked up to Renta.

"You!" Momochovy bellowed. "We had a deal. What is with taking our funding away?"

Renta blinked in surprise, but quickly recovered. "Our agreement was that the Ministry not interfere with how you run your Sensha-Do teams. Since you are no longer under the Ministry's authority, the Ministry has no reason to keep funding your schools. Did someone in the Ministry leak it already? I'll have to look into that," he said, smugly.

The Head of the Sensha-Do Federation cleared his throat. "I don't think that's fair, Renta. I think even if Kuromorimine manages to squeeze out a win, the girls here have proven that there is a weakness with just relying on Kuromorimine."

"Then you can supply them with the money to run their teams," said Renta.

"This is all about money with you, right, Renta?" said Momochovy.

"I work for the government. Funds are tight," he said.

"And it has nothing to do with the massive fraud and embezzlement you've been covering up?" said Momochovy.

Renta looked at her, shocked.

"It has nothing to do with the kickbacks you've received?" Momochovy asked.

"Of course that's not true!" he said. "You're making this up as a desperate ploy."

"Oh, but I have evidence," said Momochovy. "The Ministry charges us well over market rates for ammunition and supplies..."

"We're forced to use the government appropriations process," Renta squirmed in his seat.

"Where the sole supplier is run by your brother-in-law, who buys ammo at market rates and sells them with a massive markup? How much of that do you get?" Momochovy asked.

"That's…. that's not true!" Renta cried. "She's making this up!"

"And that's not your biggest crime. Should we talk about Ōarai Girls Academy? You know, the school carrier that you recently closed? The one where girls from this town used to go to school?" Momochovy's voice had acquired an edge.

"You said that there wasn't enough funding to keep it open, yet the former principal, who's a college buddy of yours, had enough money to buy a Ferrari. It's amazing that he could afford that when we had to scrimp and save for everything. It's also amazing he didn't put up a fight when the school closed. How much did he make from the sale, again? You know, the sale of the ship that was supposedly sold for scrap and ended up resold to a developer for more than twice the amount the government got for it?" Momochovy continued, bending over the man as he wilted in his seat.

Most of the locals in the VIP section were now paying close attention. People around the stands had begun to notice something was going on. A local TV camera crew that had been interviewing people in the stands came over to watch.

"It may not have meant much to you, but that was our school. More than that, it was our home. And you sold it so you could make money," Momochovy continued, her voice getting louder as she got angrier. "My friends… I was separated from my friends that I had known all my life, because of you and your petty greed. All of us were. And that's just what we're sure of. Besides the Sensha-Do program, besides Oarai, where else did you steal from? Who else's lives did you ruin?"

"That's quite some claim," said General Hazama. "You said you had proof?"

She handed the envelope to the general. "It's all in there. We will bring him down for what he did to us. To Oarai."

The general opened the envelope and looked at the papers. "There's a lot here. I'll need to hand this over to someone at the NPA."

"I can have a copy sent to them after the match," said Momochovy.

"If you had this before the match, why not use it then?" the head of the Sensha-Do Federation asked. "We could have avoided this."

"Because it would have interfered with the match," said Momochovy. "We're also here to face Nishizumi Miho. To show her that there's more to Sensha-Do than just winning. To show her there's something besides just blindly following…"

As Momo said this, she turned towards a shocked Nishizumi Shiho. Renta saw his opening. He lunged for the dagger that was a traditional part of the Anzio Sensha-Do uniform, and pulled it out, shoving Momo back.

He looked at the VIPs in the stands. "Dammit, I don't know how you found that out, but I will…"

What he would have done would not be known. Momochovy punched him in the face. She was never very athletic or coordinated. Still, she was the loader for Anchovy's tank, and Renta was no heavyweight. Renta went over the rail at the front of the stands, the knife spinning from his hand. Fortunately for him, the bottom of the VIP stand wasn't more than a half-meter off the ground.

He spied the knife on the grass, just out of his reach. Before he could reach for it, a Chi-Ha-Tan uniform boot pressed down on his arm, and a hand picked up the knife.

"You dishonorable bastard!" yelled Nishi, standing over him, holding the knife. "How dare you violate your duty as a government official to the people of this country!"

"Uh, Nishi…" said Anchovy, remembering her behavior at the Ministry.

"I know how to deal with scum like you!" Nishi continued, as she adjusted the knife in her hand.

"Nishi, don't…" said Anchovy.

"Officer, arrest this man!" Nishi ordered the local police officer.

The stands let out a collective sigh of relief, before breaking into polite applause.

The police officer, joined by a few others on crowd control duty, led Renta away.

Klara's father turned to the American observer. "[See, Mike, isn't real Japanese Panzerkraft exciting?]"

* * *

"See, I told you you could do it," said Anchovy, as she helped Momo to Renta's former seat in the VIP section of the stands.

"Thanks, Anchovy, for being there behind me," said Momo. The adrenaline had worn off, and she was back to her usual self.

"You're always behind me. About time I could return the favor," said Anchovy.

"I believe this belongs to you?" said Nishi, offering over the knife.

"Are you sure you should be having that?" General Hazama asked, concern mixing with humor evident in his voice.

"They trust me to climb in a tank," said Momo, too exhausted to worry about who she was talking to. "Besides, it's a letter opener, so it's not sharp. More useful for me when doing paperwork." She sheathed the letter opener.

"We don't trust you to fire the gun, though," said Anchovy. "Still, not too bad back there. The one time it mattered, you hit what you were aiming at. At least that's over with."

A dangerously calm voice spoke up from close by. "Before we were interrupted, you were saying something about my daughter?" said Nishizumi Shiho.

"Oh no," said Momo, as her eyes rolled up in her head before passing out.

"Hmmph. To think a mere girl from Anzio would try to lecture me about what Sensha-Do is," said Shiho.

Anchovy looked down at Momo's form. Her assistant had just stood up to Renta. She herself had once stood up to the Chairman of Pravda's Student Council. Standing up to one of the two most reknowned women in Sensha-Do shouldn't be an issue, she told herself. She was the Duce, after all.

"I think what my assistant was going to say was something like 'there's more to Sensha-Do than just blindly following your mother's wishes'," said Duce Anchovy. Her voice wasn't loud, wasn't bombastic. Still, it had all of the Duce's will behind it.

"What did you say?" said Nishizumi Shiho, her voice icy.

"Why does Miho do Sensha-Do?" asked Duce Anchovy. "I know why all the girls at Anzio do Sensha-Do. Over the past month, I've learned why girls at other schools do Sensha-Do. Why does Miho do it?"

"For the same reasons I do Sensha-Do. For honor and glory," said Shiho. "Like any proper student of Sensha-Do." The insult to the Anzio commander was obvious.

Nearby, Shimada Chiyo looked on with amusement as her rival sparred with the girl.

"Honor and glory for who? For Nishizumi Shiho?" said Duce Anchovy.

"For herself. Who else?" said Shiho. "She's the National Champion."

"Is that what she wants? What about her friends? Does she have any?" said Duce Anchovy.

"Of course," said Shiho. Anchovy detected the faintest hesitation in her voice.

"Have you ever met one? Has she brought one home? Do they spend all night discussing which boys they like? Do they go out for gelato together? Work on their cooking skills together?" said Duce Anchovy.

"Miho is into Sensha-Do. She has friends in that," said Shiho. Her discomfort was more obvious.

"That is what I do with my friends in Sensha-Do," said Duce Anchovy. "I have it on good authority Miho spends her time outside of a tank cuddled up with a stuffed Boko bear. What does it tell you when a girl clings to a mascot that spends all its time recovering from being injured?"

Behind her, Anchovy watched Shimada Chiyo go from amused at her rival's problems to shocked and hurt. She realized belatedly that the Shimada head was the mother of a 12 year old Sensha-Do prodigy already on the University Strengthened Team. Was Shimada Alice also a Boko fan, by chance? Yukari might know. Still, Anchovy was already engaged in combat. Too late to withdraw. Avanti it was, then.

"I've met Miho several times. We're commanders of different schools, and she's from the legendary Nishizumi family. I had never thought about whether she had friends until very recently. Momo, here, and Saori, and Yukari, had. They think she looks lonely, and want to help her by being her friend. Since they are my friends, I want them to succeed, because that's what friends do, they help each other," said Duce Anchovy.

The Nishizumi head had gone silent with shock. Duce Anchovy pressed her attack. "Because all she knows is Sensha-Do, they're out there on the field, trying to get through to her. They're trying to prove they're worthy of being friends with her, and prove that she doesn't need to be perfect at Sensha-Do to have people that care for her. Prove that she can make mistakes and still be appreciated for who she is. They're trying to prove you can have fun doing Sensha-Do, alongside your friends, because it's what you want to do, not for your mother's reputation."

She turned to look at Shimada Chiyo. "If you asked, you could probably set up a play date for Miho with Shimada Alice. I'm sure they would be great friends."

She turned back to Shiho. "I'm sorry for being so straightforward with the mother of the legendary Nishizumi Miho. It is an honor to meet you, and you as well, Shimada-dono. Please forgive my friend here for her discourtesy. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to the vendor area. I'm sure my friends need my help." She bowed, then turned and walked away.

General Hazama looked at the girl walking away, then down at the unconscious girl in the seat nearby. "They're even bold off the field," he said with a chuckle, in an attempt to defuse the situation.

Shimada Chiyo stood up.

"Where are you going?" Nishizumi Shiho asked, bitterly.

"I'm going to make a phone call," said Shimada Chiyo, hurriedly. "It will only take a second."

"You had better come back when you are done," said Shiho.

"Why? Do you actually want to set up a play date?" asked Chiyo.

"I'm considering it," said Shiho.

* * *

After disembarking from the truck that drove her off the field, Nonna strode in to the Alliance staging area. "All right, can some one fill me in on the situation?" she demanded.

"Well," said one of the Anzio students, "we heard the Ministry had gone ahead and cut our money, then Momo went to yell at Renta, then he tried to stab her, she punched him, and Nishi had him arrested. Then Anchovy got in an argument with Nishizumi Shiho."

"I meant on the field. I want to know… wait, what did you say?" Nonna asked, disbelief evident in her voice.

"Which part? The Ministry, Momo, Renta, Nishi, or Anchovy?" said the girl. "I wasn't there. It might be better to ask Anchovy herself. She's at the concession area. There's a place off to the side where the Alliance crews that are out of the battle are waiting."

Nonna looked around the staging area. The tanks that had been disabled outside of the city itself had already been brought back by crews, some from the Sensha-Do Federation, others from the GSDF that had been detailed to help in the match as training.

There was a honk, and a girl's voice yelled "Hey! Out of the way!"

She turned to see an olive green Sd. Kfz 9 Famo half-track with the canvas top extended. The half-track had plates for road use. The driver was leaning out the crew compartment, looking at her. The girl had a windbreaker on and a baseball cap pulled low over her head, and wore a pass allowing her access to the areas closed off for the match around her neck. The girl looked somehow familiar.

Nonna quickly stepped out of the half-track's way, and it drove past her. As it passed, she caught sight of what it was towing on a trailer, the Oarai Anglerfish Panzer IV, half covered by a tarp. In the back of the half-track, almost concealed under the canvas top, a couple of figures crouched, but she couldn't make out who.

The halftrack headed for the highway, as Nonna attempted to follow. It reached one of the police officers stationed to prevent unauthorized access to the battle area, the driver flashed her badge, and it headed north.

* * *

Next: Always Advancing XLVII: Victory

Author's Note: This chapter was written relatively early. At first, I just wanted to give Renta his just desserts (and at the hands of Momo, to boot), but then it let me take a well-deserved shot at Shiho Nishizumi, and when writing that I got to take a shot at Chiyo Shimada. While the general fandom opinion of the Nishizumi head is well justified, personally I think the Shimada head isn't much better. Her phone call with Alice in the movie, to me, sounds like blackmail in the form of "curbstomp mommy's rival's daughter for me and I'll save the that place you like".

It was also fun that I got to make a plot point of the very minor destruction of the Oarai principal's car back in Episode 2 of the original series.


End file.
